State education staff told the State Board they will propose administrative‑code changes to clarify who is responsible for students placed in specialized treatment centers (STCs) and to make funding and oversight consistent across the state.

Doctor Boyd, a department staff member who presented the topic, said Alabama has 61 STCs that serve students with a range of needs — including behavioral health, juvenile detention placements, residential treatment and specialized medical or psychiatric services. Boyd told the board that current administrative language ties oversight and funding to the facility’s physical location, which can create complications when the local district closest to the facility has no students placed there.

The proposed change would instead keep the student on the sending school district’s rolls for administrative and attendance purposes while ensuring special‑education and other eligible funds follow the student to the STC. Boyd said the rewrite would also replace language narrowly framed to special‑education students with wording that covers all students who attend or receive instruction at STCs. He said the department will clarify who is responsible for guaranteeing a free appropriate public education under federal IDEA rules and will require clearer reporting and periodic reviews.

Why it matters: STCs educate a small but vulnerable student population. Boyd said the centers require careful oversight because a portion of placements come from judges and the Department of Human Resources and because students’ needs vary — some placements last days or weeks, others may extend for a year or more.

Key elements of the proposal:
- Remove wording that ties administration to the STC’s physical location and instead keep placement and funding tied to the sending LEA while routing payments through the appropriate foundation/special-education formulas to the facility.