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Topeka USD 501 approves MOU with KNI to place students with intense needs on state campus; state to cover remaining teacher costs
Summary
The board approved consent items including a memorandum of understanding to place up to three USD 501 students at KNI, with the state and categorical/federal aid covering staffing costs; KNI will also provide free dental care for students with intense needs.
Topeka Public Schools (USD 501) included a memorandum of understanding with KNI on its consent agenda Tuesday that creates a partnership to place students with very intensive neurological and medical needs on the KNI campus.
District and state officials said the program will start small, will include residential placements and may include a day option, and will not create a net staffing cost for USD 501 because the district will claim categorical and federal aid while the state covers the remainder.
District Special Education leadership and the Department on Aging and Disability Services presented details during the consent discussion. “We formed this partnership. That’s the contract that you guys have up for approval this evening,” said a district official during the presentation. Scott Bruner, deputy secretary for the Department on Aging and Disability Services, described KNI’s history on serving medically frail populations and said the agency is prepared to train staff and make limited residential space available. “We’re starting slow and small, but, again, we hope that can grow over time,” Bruner said.
Board members asked whether placements would be residential and whether the district would bear the staffing costs. District staff said students placed at KNI will live on campus for residential placements and that the district has hired a specially trained teacher who will be located at KNI. “We’re gonna collect the categorical aid and federal aid for that teacher, and the state of Kansas is gonna pay the remainder. So no… there’ll be no, no cost for that teacher for us,” a district administrator said.
Officials also said KNI has agreed to provide additional services: children attending KNI will receive free dental care at the KNI clinic, and USD 501 students with intense needs who do not attend KNI will be able to make appointments for free dental care there as well.
The MOU and related contracts were part of the business-by-consent package the board approved after the board pulled one unrelated consent item for separate consideration. Board discussion during the consent debate included questions about bid comparisons for percussion instruments and a separate contract renewal that was pulled for later review.
No specific enrollment cap beyond the initial small cohort was stated in the board conversation. Bruner said the state is aiming to reduce a longer waiting list for intermediate-care placements (he described a waiting list of about 16 children who otherwise might remain in hospitals), and that KNI historically ran multiple classrooms for similar populations.
The district said more concrete program start dates and the final MOU signature would follow the board’s approval and completion of the district’s contract-processing steps.
Board members and state officials said they plan to monitor the pilot and could expand offerings if the partnership proves sustainable. The board approved the consent agenda with the exception of one contract to be returned to a future meeting.
