District Snapshot

District

Lufkin Independent School District

Location

Lufkin, Angelina County, Texas

Key Contacts

Irma Herrera

Special Education Director

Heath Wethington

Chief Financial Officer

Before Frontline	After Frontline
Before Frontline Service documentation was logged manually or on separate staff logs, with no centralized view across departments.	After Frontline Related services, personal care, and transportation data are tracked in a single system, giving both SPED and Finance access to the same documentation.
Before Frontline Preparing the SHARS cost report required the CFO to spend weeks pulling payroll reports, contracts, and transportation data manually.	After Frontline Report preparation is significantly faster. Data is already in the system, reducing manual compilation and freeing up Finance staff time.
Before Frontline Special Education and Finance operated in silos with limited regular communication, making it difficult to stay current on participant changes.	After Frontline Monthly meetings between SPED and Finance enable proactive collaboration, early identification of issues, and better alignment on cost reporting.
Before Frontline Gaps in documentation were difficult to spot, and the district had limited confidence in reimbursement accuracy.	After Frontline Frontline has helped surface where documentation gaps exist, enabling the district to strengthen processes and improve confidence in SHARS claims.

One System, Two Departments, One Goal

At Lufkin ISD, service tracking has become more than a documentation tool. By bringing Special Education and Finance into a shared process, Frontline is helping the district build stronger compliance workflows, reduce manual reporting burden, and lay the groundwork for more consistent SHARS reimbursement. 

The story involves two leaders working toward the same goal from different angles: Irma Herrera, Special Education Director, who oversees IEP compliance and service documentation for related services, personal care, and transportation; and Heath Wethington, Chief Financial Officer, who manages the financial reporting and cost submission side of SHARS. Together, their experience reflects what it looks like when a single system creates a shared foundation for two departments that have historically operated independently. 

Finding the Gaps and Building Better Processes

Irma came into her role as a first-year Special Education Director, stepping into a process that had been managed very differently before she arrived. The previous program was entirely different, and Irma was learning the requirements of Medicaid, SHARS, and service documentation alongside her many other responsibilities as a special education leader. Rather than being overwhelmed by that complexity, she used it as an opportunity to understand where the district’s documentation workflows were strong and where they needed work. 

Service tracking through Frontline gave her team a clearer picture of that landscape. Staff across related services were logging information in different ways. Some working directly in the system, others maintaining separate logs before transferring data. That inconsistency created delays and made it harder to ensure that documented services matched IEP requirements. For Irma, having a centralized system meant those gaps became visible in a way they had not been before.

She also credited Frontline’s implementation support for making the transition manageable. Frontline’s Medicaid team guided her through each step of setup, provided training for related services staff, and made expectations clear from the start.

Less Manual Work for Finance

For Heath Wethington, the most immediate change was the reduction in manual work tied to SHARS cost reporting. In previous years, preparing the cost report was a weeks-long process. He would pull payroll reports quarter by quarter, review contracts for days-worked data, compile transportation logs, which could be hundreds of pages, and work through all of it manually before submitting through the state portal.

With service data already in the Frontline system, much of that compilation is no longer necessary. What once took weeks now takes a fraction of the time. Heath estimated that pulling the payroll data he needs now takes around 20 to 30 minutes, because the participant list and reporting structure are already in place.

He also highlighted a specific structural feature of Frontline that has helped his team stay organized throughout the reporting cycle: the task and document repository where Frontline’s team posts required items, uploads, and notes. That visibility into what is needed and when has made it easier for Finance to stay on top of the process without losing track of outstanding items. 

Monthly Meetings, Shared Data

One of the most significant shifts at Lufkin ISD has not been technical, it has been organizational. A few months into their work with Frontline, Irma and Heath began meeting monthly to review documentation together, align on cost reporting needs, and stay current on changes that could affect SHARS reimbursement. Both leaders described that regular rhythm as a turning point.

From Heath’s perspective, the value of those meetings goes beyond the data itself. SHARS cost reporting is done on a lagged timeline, meaning the district is often reporting on services delivered months earlier. Without ongoing communication, it is easy for staff changes, participant updates, and missing documentation to create problems that only surface at reporting time. Monthly meetings help prevent that.

Building Toward Greater Reimbursement Confidence

Lufkin ISD is transparent that its SHARS process is still maturing. The district encountered a significant documentation gap in transportation logs from the previous year, which limited the completeness of one cost report cycle. Heath acknowledged that the district would likely see an impact on that year’s reimbursement as a result. But he also noted that the direction of travel is clearly positive. 

Before using Frontline, the district had seen SHARS revenue decline over several years from close to a million dollars to below half a million, even after adding transportation as a new billing category. The variability made it impossible to budget reliably for that revenue. Now, with consistent tracking in place and a more proactive partnership with Frontline’s Medicaid team, Heath expects that trajectory to improve.

Having documentation centralized in one system has also strengthened the district’s confidence from a compliance standpoint. When everything is already in the system, there is less uncertainty about whether the records behind a SHARS claim exist and are accessible.

Key Outcomes for Lufkin ISD

Centralized service documentation across related services, personal care, and transportation.

Significantly reduced manual cost-report preparation for Finance, from weeks to hours.

Monthly SPED–Finance collaboration that surfaces issues early and aligns reporting across departments.

Greater visibility into documentation gaps, enabling proactive process improvement.

Stronger audit-readiness and confidence in SHARS claim documentation.

A foundation for more consistent and recoverable reimbursement as tracking matures.

Looking Ahead

For Lufkin ISD, the work is ongoing. Irma’s team continues to bring more staff directly into the system to eliminate double-entry, expand service tracking coverage, and build the documentation habits that will strengthen compliance year over year. Heath’s team is building more reliable financial processes around SHARS data and anticipates that more consistent tracking will eventually allow the district to budget for reimbursement revenue with greater confidence. 

Together, they are building something that neither department could have built alone: a shared system, a shared process, and a shared commitment to getting the most out of every eligible service delivered to the students of Lufkin ISD.