Section 912 of the Education Law requires public school districts to provide students who attend nonpublic schools located within the boundaries of the school district the same health and welfare services that are available to students attending the public schools of the district when such services are requested by nonpublic schools.

According to Section 275.16 of the Commissioner’s Regulations, any appeals to the Commissioner for refused bills must be submitted within 30 days from the making of the decision or the performance of the act which the complaint is in regards to.  However, it was previously decided that since health and welfare services must be rendered continuously, this 30-day limit was not applicable for appeals in which the district of residence refused payment for these services. Therefore, districts were allowed to submit appeals to the Commissioner well beyond the 30 day limit in order to obtain reimbursement to cover the cost of providing health and welfare services to non-resident students.

Based on Commissioner’s Decision 17,397 (http://www.counsel.nysed.gov/Decisions/volume57/d17397) dated May 30th, 2018, school districts that wish to commence an appeal to the Commissioner of Education seeking reimbursement for health services costs for the 2018-19 school year and beyond must now do so within 30 days after the conclusion of the school year in which the costs were incurred.  This is a significant change from prior Commissioner’s decisions.  Therefore, districts should be aware of this new time frame in the event that there is a dispute regarding such billing.

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