By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Western Central Kansas Special Education Cooperative, of which Hays is a part, had almost $34,000 in payments withheld because of an overpayment in Medicaid funds.
The issue affected 153 of the state's school districts. The total owed by all of the districts was more than $11 million, with the Wichita school district owing $3 million.
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The West Central Kansas Co-op serves Hays, Russell, LaCrosse, Ellis, and Victoria, as well as private schools in these communities.
Kyle Carlin, co-op director, said the issue affected seven years of payments.
He said an error was identified in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's calculation of data shared with its Medicaid contractor, Public Consulting Group.
Of the 35 payments that were reviewed, the local co-op had eight payments that were affected.
"We have not received an answer to why the error impacted some districts more than others, nor why it did not affect all of the payments," Carlin said in an email.
The total adjustment was $33,972, which was withheld from payments made to the co-op this summer.
"We were lucky compared to other districts. The overall impact to our budget was minimal," he said. "The unexpected cost was absorbed by our end-of-year cash balance, and did not affect any local decisions regarding staffing or district contributions to WCKSEC."
Secretary Janet Stanek from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment told the Legislative Budget Committee on Aug. 26 that she was offering no excuses, explained that previous administrations had cut staff and the program was “under-resourced," according to the Kansas Reflector.
“But I can tell you, PCG has stepped up, and we are holding them more accountable,” Stanek said. “We are going to look at adding positions to manage – even though you have a consultant or a contractor, as you know, somebody’s got to manage them too – and I would say it was loose, and that’s on us.”