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Special education staff seek $649,000 to expand Intensive Support Center and reduce external placements
Summary
The director of special education asked the board to fund a $649,000 proposal to expand the Intensive Support Center so more students with autism, emotional disabilities and post-high needs can be served inside ACPS, which staff said would reduce reliance on costly private-day placements.
Katie Kompel, director of special education, told the Albemarle County School Board that the division is requesting $649,000 in FY26 to expand the Intensive Support Center (ISC) to serve more K–12 students with autism and emotional disabilities and to centralize post‑high (age 18–22) instruction at the Lamb’s Lane ISC campus.
Kompel said the ISC began in January 2023 to serve students with autism who required intensive behavioral supports that base schools could not safely provide. Under the proposal, the ISC would expand to provide separate elementary and secondary classes for students with autism and for students with emotional disabilities; the post‑high program would relocate to Lamb’s Lane while retaining the existing house site for daily‑living instruction.
Kompel said serving just three students who otherwise would require private‑day placements would make the ISC cost‑neutral compared with current tuition rates paid for external placements. She provided example cost comparisons: local private‑day tuition averages cited in the meeting were $144,000 per student per year (tuition only) and residential placements average about $254,000 per student per year. Kompel also said related‑services billing in private placements averages about $175 per hour and that students placed externally commonly require multiple services.
Board members asked for additional fiscal detail and comparison data (per‑student costs in the current ISC cohort, historical counts of external placements, and the division’s annual expenditure on private‑day tuition). Kompel said she would provide the requested figures. Trustees also raised programmatic questions regarding student mixing, site layout and safety; Kompel said expansion would create separate classrooms for elementary and secondary learners rather than the current single classroom serving K–12, and that staff would continue to use the house site for independent‑living instruction.
Kompel argued the expansion would help the division meet a federally mandated requirement to provide a full continuum of special education placements, including a separate public day option, and said the proposal would prioritize stability and continuity of care while potentially reducing long‑term costs associated with external placements.
No formal vote was taken on the ISC expansion during the March 6 session; trustees requested more detailed per‑student and comparative costing information before making a decision.
