 Immediately following the end of the legislative session, Beshear called for a special legislative session to consider a way to meet the state's Medicaid obligations and whether or not to raise the minimum dropout age. In the special session, legislators also approved raising the minimum dropout age to 18 during the special session. Following the session, the National Education Association honored Beshear with its America's Greatest Education Governor Award for 2011, citing his advocacy for raising the minimum dropout age and his consistent refusal to cut education funding. Both houses also approved a plan that allowed Beshear to move the funds from the second year of the budget, but triggered automatic spending cuts if the managed care plans did not generate sufficient savings. The bill also called for the hiring of an independent accounting firm to assess the savings achieved by the managed care plans. Beshear then used his line-item veto to strike the spending cuts and the savings assessment provisions, per a previous arrangement with Democratic lawmakers. By eliminating these provisions, the version of the bill signed by Beshear was essentially the plan he had proposed during the regular session. The House adjourned the session March 24, but the Senate remained in session until April 6, voting to override Beshear's vetoes, but without concurrence from the House, the override votes were ineffective.
