In First Preview of Upcoming School Budget, BOE Discusses Special Education

The administrators and Board of Education members offered a glimpse of the preliminary 2011-2012 budget last Thursday, Feb. 3. At the regular monthly meeting of the Board of Education, they started by discussing the district’s proposed allocations for special education, which comprises about 24 percent of the district's overall budget, according to Business Administrator Anthony Del Sordi.

The special education budget will decrease next year by $491,864, Del Sordi said. This decrease, however, does not  represent a cutback in any of the services provided. In 2009 Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provided aid to school districts to fund certain education programs. The timetable for the district to use those funds runs out at the end of this school year. 

“Any programs, salaries, and positions created from the funds have been worked into next year's budget,” Del Sordi explained.

Board members and administrators also discussed the number of students who have been sent out-of-district to receive special education.  

"Back in 2003-2004, we had 78 kids out-of-district,” board member Donald Parisi said. “A few years later, it was 95, 102, and 108. Today, the number is 101."

That increase represents rising costs for the school district: Because the district must pay for students' tuition and transportation, sending a student out-of-district ultimately costs more money than keeping him or her in-district, Parisi and Del Sordi said. Board members' concern regarding out-of-district placements, however, was not limited to cost. Parisi argued that the district should be able to fully serve as many special-needs students as possible without sending them elsewhere.  

“It's frustrating," Parisi said. "I understand that we need to do right by the kids and I also understand that it is not going to go from 108 to 40 in one year.”

Director of Special Services Thomas Beese Jr. then took a moment to address members of the public and the press who were watching the meeting. “I want to make sure that everyone knows that even though there is a lot of fiscal discussion going on that our first interest is the needs of the children, “Beese explained. “If we have a special needs child that has come to us for help, and we cannot after exhausting all options, then that child will leave the district, and that is what we are trying to avoid.”

Beese, Parisi and other board members said they agreed that as the district works to retain more special-education students, it should focus on students who are still studying in-district, rather than trying to attract those who have already left.

Stay tuned for more from the Feb. 3 meeting, coming soon.