Argyle ISD participates in the School Health and Related Services (SHARS) program. This program is for children who have public benefits (Medicaid) and also receive special education services at school. The program allows schools to bill Medicaid for some of the special education services. Examples are speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychological services, assistance with daily living skills, etc. This program helps AISD receive money that it otherwise wouldn’t have.

AISD will not access your child’s public benefits without your consent. If we do not already have your consent, someone from the school might contact you to discuss the consent process. Please understand it is your choice to provide consent or not. The consent is to make sure you understand and agree that AISD may access your child’s public benefits. The consent will inform you of the personally identifiable information that might be shared with Medicaid (such as information about your child’s speech therapy, occupational therapy, or other special education services). It will also specify who the information will be disclosed to (Medicaid) and why (to get reimbursed for the services).

If you consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If you withdraw your consent, AISD will still provide your child’s special education services at no cost to you. If you do not consent at all, AISD will still provide your child’s special education services at no cost to you.

AISD will not require you to sign up for or enroll in public benefits programs for your child to receive a free and appropriate education and his/her special education services. We will not require you to incur out-of-pocket expenses such as deductibles or co-pays as part of the program; however, we may pay costs that parents otherwise would be required to pay. Additionally, we will not bill Medicaid for your child’s services if this would: decrease lifetime coverage for any Medicaid-insured benefit; cause you to pay for services outside of school that would otherwise be covered by Medicaid; increase premiums; cause discontinuation of your child’s Medicaid; risk loss of eligibility for home/community-based programs.

Please note, the Texas Health & Human Services Department is required by the Social Security Act to seek out reimbursement for covered services from legally liable third parties – such as private insurance companies – who are responsible for paying all or part of claims for services provided to Medicaid recipients. This may occur if your child has private insurance in addition to his/her Medicaid insurance. But parents or guardians will not incur out-of-pocket expenses because Texas Medicaid pays copayments and deductibles associated with private insurance. Lifetime benefits of private insurance could be affected depending on the policy or agreement parents or guardians have with the insurance company.