From CBS New York:Hundreds of millions of dollars set aside to help fund city schools is simply sitting on the table unclaimed. School administrators say they don’t have the manpower to fill out the paperwork necessary to get it.
City school administrators are scrambling to explain why they haven’t bothered to claim more than $500 million they’re entitled to.
“This is sheer incompetence, it is disgusting and every parent in this city should be outraged,” Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said.
The Department of Education hasn’t filed Medicaid reimbursement claims for services like physical, occupational and speech therapy since 2006.
As a result, the department has missed out on more than $500 million that taxpayers have been forced to foot the bill for.
The DOE blames the state for the screw up, saying it ordered an overhaul of the process several years ago and from 2005 to 2010 while that was in the works, barred the city from filing these types of claims .
But, while the DOE is allowed to file now retroactively, Mayor Bloomberg doubts the DOE will be able to recoup any of the money.
29 comments:
At a pre-holiday party I listened to several teachers, aides, and kitchen workers (from different schools in Maspeth, Middle Village, Elmhurst and Corona) talk about the absolute waste of money and bueracracy that goes on in the school system. They are frustrated and disgusted. Sad that this is our school system.
Having come from the area of provision of some of the aforementioned related services, I can tell you that it's because the administration of that system is rotten to the core.They are deathly afraid of the audits that would prove just that, having been forced to give back over $500 million from speech reimbursements alone. Inadequate, often incompetent supervision which is not up to professional standards is given to providers who mostly have only cheap NYC teaching licenses as opposed to professional credentials, yet the system tries to bill as though the kids are getting individual services from an SLP ($100/hr for each child in a group that can include up to 8) in squalid conditions. At the end of my career,I was providing services crammed in a supply closet half ths size of an apartment bedroom with another speech teacher and a drug counselor, each of us with groups of 3. Picture it-9 kids and 3 adults in a closet!The DOOE just doesn't want stuff like this to be found out.Open and transparent, justlike MMayor "I don't have to tell anybody anything".
You can't blame me for this one too, you loyal Democratic Tweeders!
Wasn't the Department of Education supposed to replace the old, and supposedly ineffective, Board of Education? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Bturd asked to be judged by how well he did in education. Happy to do say. Grade: D. Class dismissed.
the special education "pupil" (1) receives $45,000 to $65,000 per year for their "education",from the nyc, d.o.e. $20 BILLION taxpayer budget.
a class room that used to sit 30 pupils at P.S.130 Q,district 98, now sits 7 S.E. "pupils" and 2 "instructors".
9 x 30 =270 possible seats for local pupils on the 1st floor .
but they are bused away (1 mile ) to other schools. .
is the progressive D.O.E. nuts or are we,the taxpayer ?
this topic is one for "MEDICAID FRAUD" investigators from Gov. A. Cuomo's government.
9 rooms ,on the 1st floor, X 7 S.E. pupils =63S.E. pupils.
35 to 40 school buses tranport the 50 -60 S.E. pupils,twice daily.
No Child Left Behind strikes again.
the fiasco at P.S.130 Q and other special ed. schools, began in1988, long before "no child left behind" was implemented.
In reference to my earlierpost, here is information about a case the city settled under the federal False Claims Act:
NY State and NY City -- $540,000,000 under the False Claims Act
In July of 2009, New York State and New York City agreed to pay a total of $540 million to resolve civil liabilities in connection with improperly billed pre-school and older students’ speech, physical and occupational therapy, psychological counseling and transportation over a seven-year period. New York State will pay approximately $331,879,000 and allow the federal government to retain approximately $108,000,000 of nearly $303,000,000 it withheld for questionable billing during a seven-year period ending in December 2008. New York City will pay $100,000,000.
The money that goes into special education probably amounts to more like $15K/yr for each student, but very little goes to their actual education.Much more goes into layers of unnessary and wasteful administrative bureaucracy.Those folks, even when nominally"educators" couldn't teach their way out of a paper bag! The evaluation of these students is made unnecessarily expensive by numerous missed appointments because of the layoffs of clerical workers who made reminder phone calls, and the subsequent paying of $42//hr to evaluators wh oend up sitting around doing nothing,a la "rubber rooms"and the final farming out of the tesing to private contract agencies, which routinely recommend full services for most studentsregardless of actual need.
Hundreds of millions on this PLUS City Time PLUS the Emergency Communications debacle-This is our financial genius at work. How much of this do you figure is being wired over to his offshore accounts? And you worry about Liu?
Anon No. 7:
This is 2012. Let me put it another way. You are then talking about something that happened 24 years ago and is irrelevant to this post.
the 2011-2012 nyc,doe budget is actually $21 BILLION.
if you search the D.O.E. website , the actual cost per pupil/per year is stated. for 2011-2012.
the cost for one regular pupil was $20,000. per year in 2011.
because there are degrees of Special Education problems with the children, the cost ranges from $45,000 to $65,000. each, in 2007.
it is public info., if you can navigate the website or if they have not redacted these costs by now.
the mayors in past years of nyc have little control over curriculum or costs. the progressive staffs,supervisors and United Federation of Teachers contribute to the waste of tax dollars.
btw : for many years, CM John Liu was a member of the city council education committee. most of the council progressives and minority caucus were & are in the pocket of the U.F.T. if the pol. votes against them they do not get election help,money and lose their political position. this union can make or break the politician.
who do you think marched with the OWS across the Bklyn. bridge.?
when in need ,the U.F.T. surrounds the Albany Capitol offices of the pols. who are on the fence in a vote.
according to the d.o.e website section that records math and E.L.A scores for special education "pupils",the scores are at levels almost ZERO.
In order to root out the corruption and waste that educators and service providers are aware of on a daily basis, I urge them to consider helping all of us, as represented by the US government, and themselves, by using the" Lincoln Law",also known as "False Claims Act". You can help combat fraud on the U.S. government and receive a monetary reward using the Qui Tam provisions of the False Claims Act.Don't allow a multi billionaire midget carpetbagger to keep enriching himself ad infinitum on our dime!Help bring down the culture of schmooze in the NYCDOE,especially as concerns special ed!
Anon. #9-The scammery might have "started" in 1988, though to my knowledge it went on well before that. That arbitrary date is somewhat of a plumb line.The nonsense continues today, but as you can see from the date of the settlement,stalling tactics employed by the city's law department drags things out considerably. The factthat this was and is ongoing is hardly irrelevant.We're all paying for this!And it was hardly in the interest of the UFT to allow this garbage to stand.As for your figures- you actually believe anything published under the aegis of B'turd?
the year 1988, that you have fixed on, only refers to the history of the former K-6 grade ,400 plus local walking pupils at P.S.130 Q ,C.S.D. 26 school.
it was closed by Ed Koch in 1982 ,because most of the district was below 60%-70 % utilized. as you see P.S.130 is more underutilized now (350),than it was when they closed it . they tried to sell it at auction.
when we exposed the nyc real estate commissioner, at the B.S.A,for attempting to steal 25000 sq.ft. of the playground and park property, no one showed at the auction ??? the D.O.I. was probing now.
it QUICKLY became the new CUNY LAW SCHOOL. the building was now a HOT POTATOE. until 1988, when it was given to C.S.D. 25. and was shared by K-3 & Dist,98 spec. ed pupils.they never saved the money predicted by the closing. WHAT ELSE IS NEW WITH TAX 7 SPEND PROGRESSIVES ?
we believe that the D.Manes /Ed .Koch pols. may have had a deal with Warner/cable to convert it to commercial plots.
the local residents children ,to this day , have never been allowed seats in the building.
Anon No. 16:
Donald Manes ended his life in 1986; Ed Koch has been out of office since 1989.
I'm not the one who is fixed on 1988; you are, since you keep taking discussions here of on tangents with your obsessions.
both of the dem.pols. were in office in 1981, when this school property was destined to be sacrificed for the TWEEDER'S GREED.
the stolen property would have be given to the auction winner free of charge. the original deal was for the building only, and they attempted to sneak the change through the B.S.A.
the documentation is public ,check it out.
District 98? No such thing- the Special Ed. program there is a District 75 Program, as in Citywide Special Ed., for children with handicapping conditions of a severity which makes it difficult to place within classes in a community district zoned school.Your obsesseion has blinded you to being factually correct, and therefore tends to fatally undermine your argument's validity.
RE: IRREVELANT LEFTIE...your obsession led you into my web.i stung you with wrong #s purposely.
so as to get you on the correct trail,search the d.o.e. site for P.S.233 @P.S.130Q prior to 2006. search P.S.993 @P.S.130Q after 2006.
see the progressives change data and names often to confuse their sources for their money pot.
you are getting close to the facts.
@R E Irrelevant Leftie:Your assumptions of my political leanings (actually lack thereof) are as SOL inaccurate as the number you allegedly invented to ensnare me in that "web" you believe you manufactured.It's not "progressive" politics which create this renaming situation, rather intentional obfuscation by BOE/DOE hack bureaucrats who like to evade the accountability they claim to want to put onto students and teachers in the current ed deform atmosphere.Actually, my ex-wife worked in several sites of PS 233 over the course of 15 or so years. I worked in a few of them during summers,and spent the majority of a 28 year career as a related service provider in Brooklyn, additionally logging time in various districts in 4 boroughs doing evaluations.If you had any idea of how unknowledgeable and foolish you sound, you'd probably shut down your screed production had you any sense.
well, now that you admit that you earned taxpayer dollars for accomplishing absolutely ZERO all your life, tell us how much TAXPAYER money is being spent to "TEACH" one "PUPIL at P.S.233 @ P.S.130 Q and the other 233 sites ?
why was that information omitted? "Irrelevant Leftie".
what were the pupils ELA and Math levels & scores ,listed on the D.O.E.website for P.S.233 sites ?
show us the progress data each year.
Anon No. 21:
Who are you talking to? I didn't post no. 20?
Anon.#21-Foryourinformation, PS 233Q services students who for the most part are functioning at the severe to profound range of mental retardation/developmental disability.These are individuals who generations ago would have died at birth or been put away in someone's attic-"out of sight,out of mind". Later, they were warehoused in places like Creedmoor or Willowbrook, until Geraldo Rivera exposed the horrific conditions under which they were kept. Thus started the movement towards integrating these people into the community,educating them and having them participate to the best of their ability in their own care. PL94-142, also known as the Individuals with Disabilities Edcation Act, or idea serves as the basis for the provision of educational and therapeutic services to these individuals. As you feel the I've contributed nothing to society duing my career,I'm brought to consider the following: What price can one put on enabling communicatively challenged people to give voice to their thoughts- be they academic, work-related or even emotions?You seem to take your rather pathetic skills for granted. What if you hadn't been blessed with even those at birth or lost them through illness or accident.Whatvalue might you assign to being brought to a point where you are able to communicate? For 28 years, bringing the ability to communicate to thousands of children who needed help is what I accomplished.And you? What have you accomplished?What has been your great contribution to society? For what will you be remembered?
why do you still refuse to answer the two questions ?
what is the cost in 2011-2012 for "educating" one p.s. 233 "pupil" ,to the taxpayer.
what are the math and ELA tests for ?
these tests are insignificant at 1.0. out of 100.
Why don't you respond to what Anon No. 24 asked and said?
I have not answered your inane questions as they have no relevance to anything in my posts. BTW, I last worked in a 233 program durnbg the summer of 1991,over 20 years ago, and do not feel a need to speak for them or follow their every move, statistically and otherwise. Math and ELA tests to tell the truth, would be rather irrelevant in this particular population,as you would know had you any knowledge or common sense.Basically, what is your bloody point?
from 2003 to 2007,our community monitored the D.O.E. website for data on the elementary and middle schools surrounding the P.S.130Q community.
the D.O.E closed this building in 1982 "TO SAVE $100,000."
my records show that in 2004, P.S.233/now P.S 993 spent $65,000 per pupil per year,for 59 pupils. that totals to $3.8 million per year. who knows what the cost has spiraled to in 2012?
the entire P.S.233/993 program of 450 pupils,at other sites in Queens,spent $29 Million per year, in 2004.
i navigated the NEW D.O.E. website and found that NO COST PER PUPIL PER YEAR EXISTS AFTER THE YEAR 2005 ?
this program has occupied P.S.130Q since 1988.24 years at this spiraling cost certainly did not save the original $100,000.
300 pupils @the k-3 part of the building x $20,000. can be added to the total cost to educate 350 + pupils.
the nyc taxpayers have a right to know where and what their money is spent on.
just what could justify spending $65,000 plus per year, from K-12 ,on teaching a pupil to communicate ?
why won't the educators tell us the cost in 2012 ? there has to be a less costly method to teach communication?
a parochial school tuition cost $5000.per year.
could it be salaries,healthcare,and pensions for the teachers ?
The obsession continues.
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