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 2020–2021 school year. 

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 School Health and Related Services (SHARS) program.  

All LEAs that received IDEA-B grant funding in the 2020–2021 school year must, therefore, submit the School Health and Related Services Survey, regardless of whether they received SHARS reimbursements. 

SHARS and IDEA-B LEA MOE
The SHARS program allows Texas LEAs to request Medicaid reimbursement for certain health-related services provided to students with disabilities. 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 Survey to collect this information. The survey is also available on 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 November 5, 2021, 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 Special Education Fiscal Compliance Survey reporting requirement, please contact the Federal Fiscal Compliance and Reporting Division at compliance@tea.texas.gov.