Auburn School officials outline rising special-education costs and revenue strategies

Laura Shaw, director of student services for Auburn Public Schools, told the Auburn School Committee on March 12, 2025, that special education (cost center 2) remains a major and growing expense and described several revenue and cost-mitigation strategies the district is pursuing.

Shaw said the district’s October 1 count showed 649 students with individualized education programs, about 20.9 percent of the student population, roughly in line with the Maine average of 21 percent and well above the national average of about 15 percent. "Specially designed instruction with no cost to parents to meet the unique needs of a student with a disability," Shaw said, describing the statutory purpose of special education in the district.

Shaw told the committee Auburn has 60 students placed in special-purpose private schools this year and has budgeted for 64 such placements for fiscal planning. She said those placements are an expensive and variable cost driver and that the district offsets part of the tuition spending with a local entitlement grant "by about $600,000." She did not provide a single consolidated dollar total for the district’s full private-school tuition budget in the presentation.

A major factor Shaw described is MaineCare reimbursement for related services (physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy and behavioral health provider services). She said third-party private schools typically bill MaineCare directly and that MaineCare pays roughly 62 percent of related-service costs while the district is responsible for the remaining 38 percent. The district distinguishes two MaineCare billing categories she called "section 28" (for students with autism and intellectual disabilities) and "section 65" (for students with behavioral or social disabilities).

Shaw said the district saw a large MaineCare-related cost increase last year — she cited a 44 percent rise — and that for the coming budget staff were told to assume an additional 3 percent increase in these related-service costs. She also described an unexpected, large rate increase at one long-standing partner program: a therapeutic program associated with Saint Mary's (the Renaissance School) was taken over by Spurwink and its daily tuition rose from about $273.55 to about $380 per day for five students, a roughly 39 percent increase.

To offset costs, Shaw outlined multiple strategies the district is pursuing: maximizing MaineCare billing where eligible; billing MaineCare for transportation for students in special-purpose private schools (a recently identified 100 percent-reimbursable item the district began preparing to bill this fall); actively pursuing DOE reimbursements for age-21-and-over services; expanding Child Development Services (CDS) billable work for preschool special-education services; and making fuller use of federal IDEA grant funds for staffing and supplies. Shaw said the IDEA grant in recent years has been "around a million dollars," and she estimated preschool CDS billing could yield at least about $50,000 annually once processes are restored.

Committee members asked whether the district had considered creating in-house programs to reduce placements and transportation. Shaw said Auburn has had such programs in the past and that Lewiston has developed in-house capacity, but she cautioned that in-house programs require facility space, higher staff pay to compete with nonunion private programs, clinical supervision (for BHP services, BCBAs or psychologists), and time to hire and certify staff. She said the district would like to pursue options when facilities become clearer through the master facilities planning process, but it would not be feasible to stand up a large in-house program in time for the upcoming budget cycle.

Shaw confirmed that the SEED-related costs she described apply to the students placed in special-purpose private schools in addition to their daily tuition rates. She described ongoing case-management work aimed at returning students to district classrooms where appropriate but noted placements are a moving target as students move in and out of placements.

Shaw and assistant director Rod Butott described continued operational work to increase reimbursements and reduce net cost to the general fund, including staff attendance at MaineCare billing training and monthly follow-ups with state agencies. Committee members pressed for further analysis of phased approaches to bringing services in-house in future years.

Laura Shaw said the district will continue pursuing reimbursements and refining cost estimates as budget work continues, and that staff would present additional detail in future budget meetings.