Special‑education director reports steady IEP enrollment, positive DESE monitoring review

Dr. Michelle Fogarty, Scituate Public Schools director of special education, told the school committee Monday that the district's population of students with individualized education programs (IEPs) remains roughly steady and that a recent state review found the district largely in compliance.

Fogarty said the district's Oct. 1 special‑education count was 519 students on IEPs (496 enrolled and attending district schools plus 28 students placed out of district with Scituate funding). She reported a March count of about 559 students on IEPs including those served in‑district and by contracted programs. The district's IEP rate was 18.7 percent compared with the state rate of 20.6 percent, Fogarty said.

The report outlined disability categories and placements: specific learning disability was the largest single category (31.8 percent), followed by health‑related categories largely reflecting ADHD (18 percent), developmental delay and autism (about 12.5 percent). Fogarty said nearly half of students placed out of district were identified with autism and that out‑of‑district placements tended to serve students with more intensive needs.

Fogarty reviewed revenue sources used to fund special education, including local appropriation, federal entitlement grants, and state reimbursements known in Massachusetts as the circuit‑breaker program. She described how the circuit breaker is calculated around a per‑pupil foundation amount (reported in the presentation as $12,930.25) and the statutory multiplier (4x the foundation amount), which produces a per‑student threshold referenced in the presentation at about $51,007.21; the state reimburses a percentage of the district's eligible excess cost above that threshold. Fogarty said reimbursement rates and eligible student counts fluctuate year to year and that district reimbursement totals have ranged historically from about $1.06 million to nearly $2.0 million in 2024.

Fogarty also summarized grants and targeted funds that support special education services. She identified a large federal grant (presented as $757,588) used to fund paraprofessionals, related‑service staff time and contracted specialists; smaller early‑childhood grants (referred to in the presentation by program codes) and a training grant of $10,000 also were described.

On oversight, Fogarty said the district recently completed a DESE integrated monitoring review (IMR), the state's cycle of monitoring for special education and civil‑rights compliance. According to the final report Fogarty received this week, Scituate fully implemented 11 of 11 special‑education criteria and 16 of 18 civil‑rights criteria. The state report included two nonbinding recommendations that the district address (1) high‑school and elementary code‑of‑conduct language in handbooks to ensure consistent approval and (2) documented evidence that teachers and administrators review curriculum for bias and stereotype across protected classes; Fogarty said those items will be addressed through a corrective‑action plan and related review work.

Committee members asked about trends driving out‑of‑district costs, and one member said he had discussed tuition increases with state Representative Patrick Kearney. Fogarty and members discussed constraints the circuit‑breaker formula places on districts' budgets and how large private‑school tuition increases can affect local spending.

Fogarty and the committee also discussed the district's efforts to identify students earlier through MTSS processes and to broaden in‑district programs so fewer students require costly placements. She credited staff and families for program work and said the IMR team had noted many positive interactions between staff and students during site visits.

The committee received the presentation; no formal action was taken.