§ 171.19. Funding.
(a) Charges. Persons who are approved reimbursable residents of this Commonwealth and who are enrolled in an approved private school shall receive a program of instruction and maintenance appropriate to the needs of the person without charge, except that charges for optional services may be made should the parents desire the optional services. There may be no charge made to parents for applications or evaluations of children recommended for assignment in accordance with § 171.16 (relating to assignment) except as provided in § 171.15(c) (relating to evaluation).
(b) Tuition or tuition and maintenance payment. The Department will approve tuition or tuition and maintenance payment for handicapped persons assigned to approved private school programs and services in accordance with § 171.16.
(c) Determination of amount. The tuition or tuition and maintenance payment will be the approved daily rate for the program of instruction and maintenance to which the person is assigned, multiplied by the number of days the person is assigned to the program, provided that no days will be counted prior to an assignment of the person in accordance with § 171.16. The daily rate for theprogram will be the quotient of the approved budget of the approved private school for the program divided by the aggregate days of student enrollment in the program. In addition, the tuition payment will include the approved cost of special services provided to the person as a necessary part of the program of instruction and maintenance appropriate to the needs of the person.
(d) Budget submission. No tuition or tuition and maintenance payment will be made until the school has submitted its budget in a form prescribed by the Secretary.
(e) Audit. The Department may audit the budgets and expenditures of the approved private school for the school year 1975-76 to determine what increases over the 1974-75 tuition rate should be approved. For the school year 1976-77 and each year thereafter, the Department will preaudit the budgets of the approved private schools in order to establish tuition rates.
(1) General. The Department will complete the preaudit within 45 days of receipt of the budget submission. If the Department has not completed the preaudit of a school within the allotted time, it will make payments to that school based on the budget submission until such time as an audit as otherwise prescribed in this chapter is completed. Adjustments in payment required as a result of the audit will be made in the final payment to that school in that fiscal year.
(2) Criteria. The Department will review the budget submission and may disallow any charges or portion of a charge to the extent that it is excessive or inappropriate. To determine whether an item is excessive, the Department will review the financial records of the school and may compare the item with the cost of a similar item in similar approved private and public school programs.
(3) Access. In order to perform the audit, the Secretary or his designee will have access to financial data relative to the school, including access to the Federal income tax forms of the school.
(f) Adjudication. Disapproval of a tuition or tuition and maintenance charge below the maximum authorized in sections 1376 and 1377 of the Public School Code of 1949 (24 P. S. § § 13-1376 and 13-1377) will be considered an adjudication under 2 Pa.C.S. § § 501—508 and 701—704 (relating to practice and procedure of Commonwealth agencies and judicial review of Commonwealth agency action), and notices, hearings and appeals will be conducted in accordance with the statute.
Notes of Decisions Audit
The audit criteria set forth in 22 Pa. Code § 171.19(e)(2) (relating to funding) are general, but they are not unreasonable, since 24 P. S. § 13-1376 and the definitions in 22 Pa. Code § 171.11 (relating to definitions) provide sufficient guidance for conducting audits and taking subsequent administrative actions regarding reasonable costs. Ashbourne School v. Department of Education, 403 A.2d 161 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1979).
Charges
As the approved private school failed to establish a basis for an allocation of allowable costs alternative to the equivalent full-time student reimbursement entitlement formula which the auditor applied in concluding that the Department of Education has overpaid the school, the Court properly determined that the school must reimburse the Department for overpayments which the school received for tuition and maintenance of approved special education pupils enrolled at the school. Community Country Day School v. Department of Education, 641 A.2d 1282 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1994).
Fiscal Year
The phrase ‘‘in that fiscal year’’ subsection (e)(1) refers to the year in which the audit was performed and not to the year to which the audit pertains. Ashbourne Educational Services, Inc. v. Department of Education, 499 A.2d 698 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1985).
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