The New Jersey Department of Education recently issued a memo regarding the Special Education Medicaid Initiative program, pertinent to the fiscal year 2025 budget submission. Specifically, the memo addresses SEMI budget requirements, alternate reimbursement revenue projection requirements, waiver requirements, action plan requirements for districts that did not maximize SEMI participation in fiscal year 2023 and SEMI timelines.
Background
In accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:55-3, school districts are required to maximize their participation in the SEMI program. The Fiscal Accountability Regulations at N.J.A.C. 6A:23A-5.3 contain the requisite SEMI programmatic guidelines and standards.
In the coming days, the NJDOE county offices will provide districts with individual fiscal year 2025 SEMI reimbursement revenue projection and the final SEMI reimbursement revenue achieved for fiscal year 2023 This information will help districts monitor progress, assist in the fiscal year 2025 budget submission and aid in determining if alternate reimbursement revenue projections or waivers should be considered. Please review Attachment A for a sample of how this information is displayed and an explanation of how SEMI reimbursement revenue projections are calculated for New Jersey school districts.
All alternate reimbursement revenue projections, waiver requests and action plans must be submitted to the NJDOE’s executive county superintendent for review and approval in accordance with the timelines below.
SEMI Budget Requirements
In preparing its annual budget submission to the respective executive county superintendent, each district shall recognize as reimbursement revenue no less than 90% of the SEMI reimbursement revenue projection provided by the NJDOE. This amount will be entered on line 540, unless the district has received a waiver or submitted an alternate SEMI reimbursement revenue projection that was approved in the “SEMI support doc” by the executive county superintendent. See Attachment B for considerations regarding waivers and alternate reimbursement revenue projections.
SEMI Timelines
The SEMI alternate reimbursement revenue projection and the SEMI waiver request must be submitted to the executive county superintendent no later than 45 days prior to the submission of the district’s proposed budget, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-5(c) and N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-39. A district may seek approval to use its own projection of SEMI reimbursement revenue upon demonstration that the assumptions it used in calculating that projection are more accurate than the projection provided.
A district may only submit a waiver request if it is projected to have 40 or fewer Medicaid-eligible special education students for the 2024-2025 school year. The executive county superintendent will render a decision within 20 days of receipt of the waiver request. SEMI action plans, if required, must be submitted to the executive county superintendent as part of the district’s proposed budget submission.
Note that the due dates for submitting SEMI alternate reimbursement revenue projections, SEMI waivers and SEMI action plans may be revised to conform with the state aid notification date that follows the governor’s state budget message, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-5(c). Please refer to the election calendar for due dates of the proposed budget.
More information on SEMI can be found on the New Jersey Department of the Treasury State SEMI website.
Contact Information
For any questions or assistance, please contact your county supervisor of child study or:
- Shifra Jenkins, NJDOE, 609-376-3523, semi@doe.nj.gov.
- Steven Pasternak, NJDOE, (609) 376-9060, semi@doe.nj.gov.
- The NJ EDPlanClient Support Team, Public Consulting Group, 609- 275-0250, extension 2, njsemi@pcgus.com.