RPAB Meeting 02-15-2006

 

Regional Provider Advisory Board Meeting 2/15/06

Present: Jaimie Storey-Smith, Laurie Mack, Sally Groupp, Kim Wing, June Gagnon, & Erin Hanson. Joined part way through by Lori Whittemore.

Augusta: The Commissioner’s Bill 1772 has been significantly revised. The concept of public schools being responsible for preschoolers has been removed from the bill. The elimination of local governance and centralized billing and data are still in the bill. A work session to consider the revised bill will be held on 2/16 at 2:00pm. Though eliminating local governance requires a statute change, centralized fiscal and data can occur without a statute change. The sites have been told that individual sites will not be submitting budgets, but the DOE will develop one large budget. The State will still be cutting $7.3 million dollars or 28% of the CDS budget. This has already been decided and there is no indication that any money will be reinstated.
If the education committee recommends that the bill move for a vote by the full legislature, both houses must pass LD 1772 by a 2/3’s vote, which is required for emergency legislation. The governor’s signature then makes it final. If all this occurs by April 1st, the Commissioner feels she could be ready for fiscal centralization by July 1. Without emergency legislation, once Governor signs at a later date, it takes 90 days before implementation. If Augusta takes over governance, the Commissioner will retain a good deal of power over the CDS system. Contracts for contracted providers will then be issued by Augusta. If governance remains with the local sites, CDS employees won’t have to resign and be re-hired. There is no deadline for this decision to be made.
The CDS system currently has 400 fewer children than last year. The decrease is not due to legal interpretation which has not changed, but to interpretation at the sites which have had to tighten up due to fiscal constraints. This will save about 1 ½ million.
The Special Ed Directors were told they have the choice about whether to take 3-5 year olds and the ones in this area did not have the space or resources to assume responsibility at this time. The idea of moving 3-5 year olds to public school is out of the current proposal, but could be a recommendation of the commission that would study the system and determine where it best fits. There will be another work session in Augusta on 2/16 at 2:00.
Lack of Reports: Sally said that the Morrison Center has gotten goals on some children without reports, and that they were told the evaluation reports didn’t exist. Lori W. said this is not accurate and she will check into this.

Waiting List: 0-2 years: 4 DT, OT-3, SLP-13.
3-5 years: 1-DT, 1 Family Training, 2 OT, 3 PT, 13 SLP.

Autism Task Force: trying to get providers and parents together to look at programming & meet w/Drs. Dalzell & Hubbard.

Late Birth dates: Kids with B.D. from 9/1 to 10/15 will be able to remain in the CDS system again this year if they choose to.

Transdisciplinary Evaluations of 0-2 year olds: CDS employees are using the Battelle and doing 2-3 evals./week. Dyads: Lori doesn’t have enough teams and is barely in compliance. Teams have a choice of using the Bayley or the Battelle. Children with established conditions do not have to be tested with these two tests, since they are automatically eligible. They can be tested with developmental checklists, such as the Hawaii, if preferred. A list of established conditions (such as Down Syndrome) has not been officially developed for Maine but will be.

ESY Forms: Made to be difficult in order to really justify need according to Board member. Jaimie said that her staff puts things such as: See objective 4. ESY forms are due May 1st. Jaimie’s staff does June quarterlies for May 1st, along with the ESY forms. Lori has approved this. Sally reported that they sometimes due the ESY at the Annual Review for very significantly impaired children. Lori W said that ESY can be discussed on the March quarterly report if the child is significantly delayed. It depends on the child.