001Hello everyone and thank you for joining us today. This webinar is going to give you a high-level overview of the high-cost fund program and application process for the 2526 school year. We'll walk through what the high-cost fund is, who's eligible, key timelines to be aware of, and a few important reminders and updates that are new or reinstated this year. This is meant to be an overview, not a step-by-step training, but our goal is to help you feel prepared before you start or submit an application. Let's start with a quick snapshot of the high-cost fund. The high-cost fund is designed to help eas cover the cost of direct special education and related services for students with disabilities who have high support needs. For high-cost fund purposes, a student is considered to have high support needs when
002the cost of their education exceeds three times the state's average per pupil expenditure. The fund provides reimbursement allocations, but is it important to remember that funding is subject to availability? If requests exceed available funds, awards will be prrated based on the students LR or least restrictive environment. In general, indistrict placements are weighted highest, followed by day placements, and then residential placements. All high-cost fund applications are submitted through Apex, which you access through the TEA teal system. Apex is also used for contracted day placements and contracted educational residential placements. If you're newer to Apex or you just want a refresher, there are both quick start and full user guides available that walk through the system step by step. Now, let's talk about timelines because these are always important. For the 2526 school year, the high-cost fund
003application opens March 2nd and closes May 4th. Applications for day and residential placements have a longer window, but it's still important to submit those within required timelines, especially since late submissions can affect funding. To be eligible for high-cost fund consideration, a student's direct special education and related services cost must exceed the qualifying threshold. This year, that amount is $4,926. If a student's costs don't meet or exceed that amount, they are not eligible for high-cost fund consideration. How information flows into the high-cost fund application depends on the students placement. For day and residential placements, information from a finalized placement application in Apex automatically ports into the high-cost fund application. For in district students, LEAs manually enter the student information and cost. In all cases, the cost must be direct special education and related services. clearly identified
004in the student's IEP and at or above the qualifying cost amount. One thing we want to emphasize is the importance of timely submission, especially for day and residential placements. ELEAs are required to notify TEA of these placements within 30 calendar days by submitting the appropriate Apex application. If those applications are submitted late, the system automatically prrates the contract costs and those prrated amounts will carry over into the high cost fund application. That can result in a lower eligible amount. So submitting on time really does matter. A common question we get is around eligible versus ineligible costs. The key thing to remember is this. Only costs for direct special education and related services that are clearly documented in the students IEP are eligible. For example, if a student requires a onetoone staff member or a transportation
005support, that need must be explicitly stated and documented in the students IEP. Indirect services, consult services, or vague descriptions of support are not eligible and won't be approved. All costs included in a high-cost fund application must be incurred between August 1 and July 31st of the school year. If you're including extended school year services, those costs can only be included if ESY is recommended in the students IEP for that time frame. Now, we'll move on to application updates for the 2526 school year. One of the bigger updates this year is the reinstatement of the IDEAB carryover eligibility requirement. If an LEA carried forward 60% or more of its IDEAB formula funds from the prior year, that LEA will be ineligible to submit a high-cost fund application for that year. This check will happen automatically in
006Apex when you initiate an application and the system will let you know if your LEA is eligible. You'll also notice new or revised SHARS questions in the student application this year. These questions ask whether your LEA participates in SHARS, plans to submit a SHARS reimbursement request for the student, and is requesting reimbursement for any of the same costs through both SHARS and high-cost fund. If applicable, you'll also enter an estimated SHARS reimbursement amount. Now, we'll discuss a few application reminders. First, we'll go over a SHARS coordination reminder. This is really about avoiding double reimbursement. If a cost is submitted for SHAR's reimbursement, that amount must also be reported in the high-cost fund application. The Apex system automatically subtracts the SHs amount from the high-cost fund request. Because of that, it's important for the person completing
007the high-cost fund application to coordinate with SHAR staff to ensure accurate information is entered. Apex includes built-in calculators to help with personnel prrating and excess transportation costs. These tools are there to help standardize calculations and help tips are available directly in the system if you need them. Once applications are submitted, the high-cost fund homepage in Apex gives you a snapshot of how many applications were submitted, eligible and requested amounts, and the final PR-rated award amount once it's available at the student level. You can also see which cost items were approved or not approved along with reasons for ineligibility. Just remember eligible approved amounts are not the same as award amounts. Now we will move on to award information. On this slide, we'll talk about how highcost fund awards are calculated when requests exceed available funding.
008When that happens, awards are prrated using a weighted formula and that waiting is based on the students placement type or LR. In district placements are weighted highest, followed by day placements and then residential placements. Because of this, award amounts can vary. And just a reminder, high-cost fund awards are not guaranteed and depend on available funds. Award amounts are posted in Apex by the first business day in July. There aren't separate award letters. Apex is where you'll find the official information. ELEAS will receive an email letting them know the award has been posted, but the email will not include award details. To see the details, you'll log into Apex and view the award on your highcost fund application homepage. Applications are submitted in the spring with the high-cost fund deadline on May 4th. In July, award
009amounts are posted in Apex and ELA's receive an email notification. Later in July, eleas's receive instructions for submitting the reimbursement payment request. That request is submitted in August and reimbursement payments are issued by August 31st. If you need to see award details by student, Apex includes a student level award detail report under the reports menu. This report shows how the award is distributed across individual students. This wraps up our overview of the high-cost fund program and application process for the 2526 school year. For more information or support, please visit the high-cost fund web page or reach out directly to the team at hcfa.t texas.gov. Thank you for your time and for the work you do to support students with disabilities who have high support needs.