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Exceptional Children office requests additional staffing as student special‑needs enrollment rises
Summary
The Office for Exceptional Children (OEC) presented a FY26 budget showing increased payroll tied to student enrollment growth and a plan to bring behavior‑support services in‑house (BCBAs and RBTs) to reduce contracted costs; board members asked for clarification on ESSER ties and applauded non‑payroll reductions.
Shelley, an OEC presenter, gave the board an overview of the Office for Exceptional Children budget on May 29, saying the office is increasing full‑time equivalents and payroll to match rising enrollment of students with disabilities. "The full time employee is 4 71 compared with 4 85 for the 20 sixth school year…The 25 total payroll is 40,000,000, 40 point 2 million," she said, while acknowledging some typos in slides and corrections to student counts.
Shelley said the district moved some services in‑house — notably board‑certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) and registered behavior technicians (RBTs) — which reduced contracted purchased‑services spending. She said purchased services decreased because the district now employs some BCBAs and RBTs rather than contracting all related services. The presenter emphasized the OEC’s mission to ensure equity and life‑changing outcomes for students with disabilities and asked if there were questions.
Why it matters: the board heard that staffing growth is driven partly by increased special‑needs enrollment (presenter corrected a slide to show 2,301 students with disabilities for the most recent year). Board members asked whether ESSER funds affected staffing changes; the presenter deferred that question to central staff. One board member commended the OEC for reducing non‑payroll requests, noting it as the first presentation showing a reduction in that category.
Next steps: the presentation was informational. Board members requested additional detail on staffing drivers and funding sources as part of the FY26 budget discussions.
