Section 4004. Financial responsibility

1.  Tuition expenses for a child
  placed by a school district in a special act school  district  or  in  a
  private  school  operated  by  a child care institution pursuant to this
  article shall be the responsibility of such school district pursuant  to
  section forty-four hundred five of this chapter.
    2.  a. Any tuition expenses for an educational program approved by the
  education department for the purposes of this article, incurred pursuant
  to section four thousand two of this article,  for  a  child  who  is  a
  resident  of  this  state placed in a child care institution by a social
  services district, the division for youth, or family court  for  a  full
  year  program  of instruction pursuant to section four thousand three of
  this article, or for a child who is a resident of this  state  receiving
  care  in a residential treatment facility for children and youth and who
  was placed in such  a  facility  by  a  social  services  district,  the
  division  for  youth  or  the  family court, shall be borne by the local
  social services district financially  responsible  for  such  child  and
  tuition  expenses  for a child who is a resident of this state receiving
  care in a residential treatment facility for children and youth and  who
  was  not placed in such a facility by a school district, social services
  district, the division for youth or the family court shall be  borne  by
  the office of mental health, except that no public funding shall be made
  available  for  any  child  receiving  care  in  a residential treatment
  facility for children and youth whose admission did not conform with the
  provisions of section 9.51 of the mental hygiene law.  Tuition  expenses
  for  children admitted to Blythedale Children's Hospital on an inpatient
  basis shall be the responsibility of the  social  services  district  in
  which  the  child resided at the time of admission to such hospital. The
  school district in which the child resided at the time a social services
  district or the  division  for  youth  assumed  responsibility  for  the
  support  and  maintenance  of  the  child, or was admitted to Blythedale
  Children's  Hospital,  or  the  child  was  admitted  to  a  residential
  treatment  facility  for  children  and  youth shall reimburse the state
  towards the state's expenditure on behalf of such child for  each  child
  determined  to  be  handicapped by the committee on special education of
  the school district of residence pursuant to section four thousand  five
  of  this article. The amount of such reimbursement shall be equal to the
  school district basic contribution as defined in  subdivision  eight  of
  section forty-four hundred one of this chapter.
    b.  The comptroller shall deduct from any state funds which become due
  to a public school district other than a special act school district  an
  amount  equal  to the reimbursements required to be made to the state in
  accordance with this section upon certification by the  commissioner  of
  education of the monies due.
    c.  The  state  commissioner  of  social  services  shall  notify  the
  commissioner of education at least every six months commencing September
  first, nineteen hundred eighty-one of the name of each child for whom  a
  local social services commissioner has paid tuition during the preceding
  six  month period, the name of the school to which such tuition has been
  paid, and the school district in which such child resided at the time of
  entrance to care and whether  such  child  has  been  determined  to  be
  handicapped.
    3. In the event of the failure of the social services district to make
  payment  for  tuition  pursuant  to  the provisions of this section, the
  state comptroller shall withhold state reimbursement to any such  social
  services  district  in  an  amount  equal  to  the unpaid obligation for
  tuition and pay over such sum to the child care institution  or  special
  act  school  district  upon  certification  of the state commissioner of

  social  services.  The  state  commissioner  of  social  services  shall
  promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of this subdivision.
    4.  Nothing in this article shall be construed to deny or limit access
  to a free and appropriate education for a handicapped child pursuant  to
  the  federal  education  of  the  handicapped  act,  as  amended and the
  regulations promulgated thereunder.