District’s incorrect billing procedures under review
WASHBURN, Maine — The Maine Department of Education’s review of SAD 45’s special education documents and fiscal documentation — and a site visit Oct. 17, 2014 — has revealed “issues reflective of non-compliant policies, practices or procedures.”
Among the findings shared in a Dec. 23, 2014 letter to Superintendent Ed Buckley from Tyler Backus, school finance coordinator for the Maine DOE, included:
• Incorrect fund and revenue codes used for MaineCare revenues in Fiscal Years 2011 through 2015.
• Incorrect function code used for Educational Technicians.
• Failure to properly bill MaineCare for services provided.
• Incorrect program code used for Special Education Educational Technicians.
Through the audit, it was determined that in the fiscal years 2011-14, the district incorrectly coded MaineCare revenues. “MaineCare revenue is used to adjust the amount of special education funding each school district receives,” wrote Backus. “By using the incorrect fund and revenue codes, SAD 45 has received more special education funding than it should have for FYs 2013, 2014 and 2015.”
As part of the fiscal corrective action plan:
• For FY2015, SAD 45 will journal MaineCare revenue to the correct fund and revenue codes.
• The district will code future MaineCare revenue per instructions provided on Maine Department of Education documentation.
To remedy the incorrect function code that was used for Education Technicians in 2013 and 2014:
• For FY2015, the district will journal the costs for Educational Technicians per guidance provided by Maine DOE documentation.
• SAD 45 will code future Educational Technicians costs per Maine DOE documentation.
In the fiscal year 2014, one student record was compared against billing documentation from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. During that review multiple instances were found where billing occurred when the student was either not in attendance at the Day Treatment Program or was in attendance for a shorter period than what was billed by the district.
To correct that:
• SAD 45 will review the documentation provided and will reimburse for any billing discrepancies.
• For FY2014, the district will provide to Maine DOE attendance records for all students in attendance at the Day Treatment Program.
• SAD 45 will provide to Maine DOE procedures that the district will implement to ensure that future billing discrepancies do not occur.
In the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, SAD 45 made multiple journal entries from the Day Treatment Program to the Federal Special Education funding. “During a conversation with the district,” wrote Backus, “it was noted that 8 percent of the costs for 22 Special Education Educational Technicians was moved because not all hours that staff worked were billable to MaineCare. Staff being paid with Department of Education federal funding must complete Time and Effort documentation. Staff being paid with federal funding who perform multiple cost objectives or who are paid with multiple federal funding sources must complete monthly personal activity reports that account for 100 percent of their time.”
The corrective action plan states that SAD 45 will provide to Maine DOE Time and Effort documentation for staff originally paid from an account whose costs were moved to Special Education federal funding or repay funds.
When asked about the DOE’s review, Buckley declined to comment except to say that, “A lot of things are still up in the air. We really can’t comment on that at the time because nothing is definite.”
The exact amount SAD 45 needs to reimburse for billing discrepancies is not known at this time, as Backus could not be reached for further comment.
