School Health and Related Services (SHARS) Reporting Requirement

This letter describes a reporting requirement applicable to all local educational agencies (LEAs) and fiscal agents that received or administered funds awarded through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B (IDEA-B) grant program for the 2018–2019 school year. 

The School Health and Related Services (SHARS) program allows Texas LEAs to request Medicaid reimbursement for certain health-related services provided to students with disabilities. 

SHARS and IDEA-B LEA MOE

To conduct IDEA-B LEA maintenance of effort (MOE) compliance reviews, TEA must know how LEAs and fiscal agents expended any reimbursements they received under the SHARS program.

All LEAs that received IDEA-B grant funding in the 2018–2019 school year must therefore submit the SHARS Reimbursement Report Survey, regardless of whether they received SHARS reimbursements. 

In accordance with Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations (34 CFR) §300.154(g)(2), if an LEA spends SHARS reimbursements for state and local expenditures for special education services, those subsequent expenditures must be excluded for IDEA-B LEA MOE purposes from the final calculation of state and local expenditures. 

Survey Access and Deadline

TEA has developed a SHARS Reimbursement Report Survey to collect this information. The survey is also available from the SHARS and IDEA-B LEA MOE Guidance page of the TEA website. 

Refer to these SHARS survey instructions for information on how to access and submit the survey by the October 31, 2019, deadline.

For Further Information

The IDEA-B LEA Maintenance of Effort page of the TEA website provides links to the SHARS and IDEA-B LEA MOE Guidance page, to SHARS guidance, and to the IDEA-B LEA MOE Guidance Handbook.  

If you have further questions about the SHARS reporting requirement, please contact the Federal Fiscal Compliance and Reporting Division at (512) 463-9127 or by e-mail at compliance@tea.texas.gov.