DAB Decision 92
April 28, 1980 Kentucky Department of Human Resources; Docket No.
78-135-KY-HD; Decision No. 92 DeGeorge, Francis D.; Kelly, Bernard E.
Dell'Acqua, Frank
(The following summary is Prepared on the responsibility of the
Executive Secretary of the Board as a convenience to the interested
public. It is not an official Part of the decision and has not been
reviewed by the Panel. Similar official summaries of earlier cases
appear in 45 CFR Part 16, Appendix.)
The State appealed frog a determination by the Acting Regional Program
Director, Administration for Public Services, Office of Human
Development Services, disallowing $55,135 pertaining to a claim by the
state for 75% FFP for expenditures made under contract with Kentucky
State University (KSU) for Title XX training for the quarter ended June
30, 1976. No expenses were actually incurred after June 16, 1978.
The Regional Office determined that KSU was not in compliance with 45
CFR 228.82(a)(2) because it had not been accredited by, had
pre-accreditation status with, or applied for accreditation from, the
Council for Social Work Education (CSWE), the national accrediting
organization for schools of social work, at the time the expenses were
incurred.
KSU submitted an application for accreditation to the CSWE on June 16,
1978, but had not been accredited as of February 1980. The Board stated
that since HEW has recognized the CSWE as the appropriate accrediting
body and has not defined the terms "application for accreditation"
or
"pre-accreditation status," the CSWE's policies were controlling.
It
held, however, that there was no basis in the CSWE's policies for
considering KSU as having applied for accreditation earlier than June
16, 1978.
The Board further determined that the term "pre-accreditation status"
in
the regulation must connote some sort of formal status from the
accrediting body. There was no evidence the KSU ever carried any formal
status before it submitted its application for accreditation.
Therefore, the appeal was denied.
DECISION
By letter dated October 24, 1978, the grantee appealed a disallowance of
$55,135 made by the Acting Regional Program Director, Administration for
Public Service (APS), Office of Human Development Services (OHDS), on
September 27, 1978.
The disallowance involved in this case pertains to a claim by Kentucky
for 75% federal financial participation (FFP) for expenditures made
under contract with Kentucky State University (KSU) for Title XX
training for the quarter ended June 30, 1978. The regional Office
determined that KSU was not in compliance with 45 CFR 228.82(a)(2)
because the University had not been accredited by, had pre-accreditation
status with, or applied for accreditation frost, the Council for Social
Work Education (CSWE), the national accrediting organization for schools
of social work, at the time the expenses were incurred.
This decision is based on the State's application for review, the
Agency's response to the appeal and both parties' responses to an Order
to Show Cause dated September 20, 1979 and a letter requesting further
information dated December 19, 1979 from the Executive Secretary of the
Board.
Relevant Statutory and Regulatory Provisions
Under Title XX of the Social Security Act, a state may receive Federal
reimbursement of 75% for the costs of personnel training and retraining
directly related to the provision of certain welfare services (42 UCS
1397a (a) (1)). The implementing regulations can be found at 45 CFR
223.80 et seq. Section 228.82(a)(2), the section relied upon by both
parties, states that
(a) FFP is available in payments for training furnished under
grants to educational institutions, if all conditions specified in
this section are met... (2) Grants are available only to post
secondary, under-graduate and graduate educational institutions
and programs that have been accredited by the appropriate
institutional accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Commissioner
of Education. A specialized program
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for which there is a specialized accrediting body shall be
accredited by, have pre-accreditation status from, or have applied
for, accreditation by such body...
Both parties agree that the appropriate accrediting body in this case is
the Council on Social Work Education.
Statement of the Case
According to the State, in 1974, CSWE referred the first consultant to
work with KSU's social work program to achieve accreditation.
Consultants continued to work with the school into 1977.
On January 19, 1977, the Chairman of the Department of Sociology at KSU
wrote to the Council on Social Work Education asking for a "site visit"
in January 1978 and stated that a self-study of the social work program
should be completed by that date.
On June 17, 1977, the Chairman of the KSU Department of Sociology wrote
again to the CSWE explaining that the self-study was being completed and
requesting information about the procedure to be followed to request a
site visit "as well as candidacy for accreditation."
In response to a letter not in the file, the Director, Field of Social
Work, KSU Department of Sociology, wrote to the Commissioner, Bureau for
Social Services, State Department for Human Resources, on January 25,
1978, stating that there were "two letters of application" submitted
to
the CSWE, one on June 17, 1977 (it is not clear whether it is the letter
described above) and a second on August 18, 1977 (not in the file). She
also stated that "we are presently making preparation for candidacy and
will have an on-site-visit in the near future."
KSU's "Baccalaureate Social Work Programs - Application for Initial
Accreditation" is dated June 16, 1972.
On September 22, 1978, the CSWE acknowledged receipt of the application
for accreditation. The letter states that "the application is
considered as having been received during the 1977/78 academic year."
On September 25, 1978, the Training Branch Manager, Bureau of Social
Services, State Department for Human Resources, wrote to the CSWE
thanking them for confirmation of the receipt of the self-study and of
the fact that KSU's application status was pending.
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The disallowance of $55,135 was made on September 27, 1978. On October
13, 1978, the CSWE wrote to Region IV's Acting Program Director, APS,
OHDS, stating that an application fur KSU accreditation "has been
received at CSWE in June 1978 - it is pending action by the Commission
on Accreditation."
According to a submission filed by the State dated February 5, 1980, the
KSU social work program had not yet been accredited. Because of the
backlog of accreditation requests, the CSWE site visit committee did not
visit KSU until October 1979, and KSU was advised that the CSWE would
take action at its March 1980 meeting.
State Position
The State claims that since KSU applied for accreditation with the CSWE
on June 16, 1978 as well as submitting its completed self-study, it was
eligible for FFP for the quarter during which the application was
submitted. As evidence bolstering its contention, it points to the
letter dated September 22, 1978 from the CSWE to KSU stating that the
"application is considered as having been received during the 1977/78
academic year." The State also argues that since it has been actively
pursuing accreditation since 1974, it clearly had pre-accreditation
status during that time.
The CSWE Accreditation Process
The relevant regulations do not define the terms "application for
accreditation" or "pre-accreditation status." Since HEW has recognized
the CSWE as the appropriate specialized accrediting body and has not
defined the terms in question, CSWE's policies, procedures and criteria
appear to be controlling.
The CSWE documents submitted by the State describe its accreditation
process. Before an application for accreditation is submitted by a
school, the school is advised to employ a consultant from a list
suggested by the CSWE, and a self-study is to be written. The
self-study is submitted along with the application for initial
accreditation. CSWE then decides whether the school's program is
sufficiently developed to warrant a site visit (if the program is
eligible for initial accreditation) or by a visit by a representative of
the Commission on Accreditation (if candidacy status seems indicated).
From the material submitted in the application, the Commission
determines whether the program is eligible for initial accreditation or
for candidacy. It may not be possible to complete the accreditation
review during the academic year in which the application was received.
If accredited status is awarded during the succeeding academic year,
such status would be made retroactive to the academic year during which
the application was submitted.
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KSU Applied for Accreditation Before June 16, 1978?
The State has based its argument that its submission of an application
on June 16, 1976 entitled it to FFP for the quarter ending June 30, 1978
on a letter from the CSWE to KSU stating that the "application is
considered as having been received during the 1977/78 academic year."
CSWE's statement does not appear to be the unambiguous proof of
application status that the date asserts it is, however. Rather, the
statement could reasonably be taken to refer to the CSM's policy of
making accreditation retroactive to the academic year in which an
application is submitted if the CSWE is unable to complete the
accreditation review until the succeeding academic year. Thus, if KSU
had been accredited in the 1978/79 academic year, under the CSWE's
policy, the accreditation would have been retroactive to the 1977/78
academic year since the application was considered as having been
received during that year. In the absence of a decision in the 1978/79
academic year granting accreditation, however, there would appear to be
no basis in the CSWE's policies for considering KSU as having applied
for accreditation earlier than June 16, 1978.
The regulation provides that FFP is available "if all conditions
specified in this section are met..." It is clear that under the
regulation FFP became available only when KSU actually applied for
accreditation. During the course of the appeal, the Agency determined
that the FFP disallowed was for costs incurred before June 16, 1978.
The Agency has stated that KSU complied with the condition imposed by
the regulation as of June 16, 1978, and it appears that the State has
been receiving FFP for services rendered by KSU since that dated Under
45 CFR 228.82 (a)(2), therefore, unless KSU had pre-accreditation status
before June 16, 1978 (discussed below), it did not become eligible for
FFP until it applied for accreditation on June 16, 1978.
Did KSU have Pre-Accreditation Status Before June 16, 1978?
It appears from the documents submitted by the State that the CSWE's
"candidacy" status could be considered pre-accreditation status within
the meaning of 45 CFR 228.82(a)(2). The State did not directly respond
to the question in the Order to Show Cause as to whether KSU ever
carried formal "candidacy" status from CSWE; it appears from the
documents in the file that the school has not yet been accorded that
status.
The State argues that since 1974, KSU had been working with consultants
approved and recommended by the CSWE toward the goal of accreditation.
Since it had been actively pursuing accreditation since 1974, the State
argues, it "was in a pre-accreditation status...at the time."
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For the Board to find that KSU had pre-accreditation status on this
basis, however, would mean that FFP might be available starting at a
point when a school merely requests assistance from the CSWE to explore
the possibility of accreditation or requests an application for
accreditation. The term used in the regulation must connote some sort of
formal status from the accrediting body. Unless it is interpreted in
this light, HEW might have to provide FFP for an indefinite period of
time for an institution which has no real expectation of achieving
accreditation.
Conclusion
We find that KSU did not apply for accreditation until June 16, 1978 or
have pre-accreditation status prior to that date. Accordingly, we deny