By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – U.S. Senator Charles Schumer says state school districts have been following proper guidelines in administering a Medicaid program and should not face lawsuits to return the funds. Schumer and Buffalo school leaders met with reporters Monday.
Senator Schumer says if lawsuits are filed, the Buffalo school district could be forced to pay back $52 million dollars. Niagara Falls would owe $6 million and Jamestown $4 million.
Schumer says he wants the U.S. Justice Department to stop potential lawsuits against the school districts. Buffalo Schools Superintendent Marion Canedo says ironically Buffalo was consider the "role model" in the state for this Medicaid program.
"We know we've done everything," Canedo said. "Our district was even a model for the program. How on earth can we deal with something like this that was not of our doing? I can't even fathom how we would manage this type of a problem."
The school Medicaid program started in 1994. It helps schools provide services like speech therapy to eligible students. The Justice Department has already audited school districts in Elmira, Ithaca and Ogdensburg.
It says districts are failing to follow proper reimbursement guidelines. But Senator Schumer says those guidelines were issued by the state Education Department.
"They gave Buffalo the gold star for doing it right and now they are saying never mind," Schumer said. "If that happened during prosperous times and communities and districts were flushed with money it would still be very wrong."
Senator Schumer says he believes a bureaucrat within the Department of Health and Human Services decided the money should be returned as a way of raising budget revenues. He says the "ultimate blame" should be placed on the federal government.