The Walworth County Children with Disabilities Education Committee voted May 21, 2025, to authorize reclassifying an existing funded special-education teacher position into a speech‑language pathologist (SLP) role, a budget-neutral personnel change the committee's staff said is intended to reduce therapy caseloads and allow Lakeland School to accept more tuition-based students.

Committee members discussed enrollment trends, therapy capacity and budget planning for the 2026 fiscal year. Staff presented historical enrollment figures and a projection for the 2025–26 school year, explained that speech therapy caseloads are the primary constraint on accepting tuition students, and described a two-step approach: reclassify an existing position now and, if additional tuition students enroll, propose adding an additional SLP in the 2026 budget.

According to the presenter, Lakeland's on-site student enrollment historically peaked at about 251 in 2007 and fell thereafter; the presenter said the school had 99 students in 2016 and that enrollment has been steady in the range of 133–140 since 2022. For 2025–26, the presenter said current projections are about 127 students. Staff emphasized these figures were presented as projections in the committee memo and may change as accounting and enrollment work continues.

Staff said Lakeland currently has five speech‑language pathologists and that the speech caseloads are operating above target levels; adding one SLP by reclassifying a funded teacher position is expected to free capacity to accept an estimated three to five additional tuition students immediately. The presenter said the school typically receives roughly 10–20 tuition requests per year and has been turning away many requests because of therapy capacity constraints.

The presenter described the reclassification as "budget neutral" because the existing authorized position would be converted rather than funded as an additional headcount; any subsequent permanent addition of an SLP would be proposed in the 2026 budget and would be contingent on demonstrating enough additional tuition revenue to cover costs. Lauren, the district's senior accountant, is preparing cost estimates and a proposed tuition rate intended to better reflect the full cost of educating a student at Lakeland School.

Committee members asked how changes in partner districts' programming and state rules on placing students in the "least restrictive environment" have affected referrals; staff said some partner districts have increased in-district programming for students with milder needs, leaving Lakeland to serve students with more significant cognitive, medical or therapy needs. Members also raised recruitment concerns for specialized therapists; staff said recruiting SLPs has been historically difficult, and a county compensation study and a review of pay scales are underway to improve recruitment and retention.

A committee member moved to approve the reclassification resolution; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote with no opposition recorded in the transcript. Staff said the personnel movement will require review by the county finance committee to move budget authority between organizational units before implementation.

Staff additionally noted non-action items: a set of Lakeland policies will be presented to the committee in June after legal review, and staff will present updated financials at the June meeting once additional tuition revenue and donations are posted.