By KIMBERLY ACEVEDO
Long Beach Superintendent of Schools Ron Friedman said the district hasn't received notice of any investigation. Actually, the only information the district has received is in the "media and from professional organizations," he said.
But Friedman said superintendents have been "advised by our state organization that if we should be investigated and if the federal government wants payments back to it, we should not comply."
The probe could ultimately force school districts on Long Island to pay back a large portion of the $76 million received in federal reimbursements. The districts may also be responsible for additional fines and penalties.
But if districts get audited or investigated, Friedman said state officials have instructed them to contact their attorneys and the state.
Medicaid's School Supportive Health Services Program (SSHSP) reimburses schools provide services like speech pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychological counseling, nursing, transportation and other services for special education Medicaid-eligible students.
Since 1994, school districts throughout New York have received federal reimbursement for the program. But in Long Beach, the district only began filing since roughly 1997, Friedman said.
In January, the State Education Department instructed school districts state-wide to hold their records of the SSHSP for the federal review.
The DOJ's investigation was triggered in 2000 by an audit of three school districts by the Health and Human Services Inspector General's office. Ogdensburg, Elmira and Ithaca school districts audit's implied the state's interpretation of the reimbursement rules conflicted with the federal government's interpretation. The audit implied that New York districts filed incorrectly and Medicaid had overpaid them.
School districts in New York and especially on Long Island relied on the state's interpretation since the federal rules were "vague," Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) said.
The districts may have filed improperly but they followed state mandated guidelines, Schumer said, guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"We don't have millions of dollars to give to the Justice Department simply because some filing errors may have been made," Schumer said. "We don't even have thousands of dollars to give them."
Schumer doesn't oppose the investigation but he feels that it shouldn't be taken "out on the backs of our kids."
Every district in New York State has received a letter of the investigation, asking district officials to preserve their records in the event they are audited or investigated.
Spokesperson for Schumer, Jenni Engebretsen said currently the DOJ has not filed suit against any district.
