Charter-school special-education costs fall to students' home districts, DOE says

The Commission to Study the Cost of Special Education heard on Oct. 29 that 804 students with disabilities attend charter schools and that the school district where each student resides is responsible for providing and paying for those services.

Rebecca Ferdette, director of special education at the New Hampshire Department of Education, told commissioners, “We currently have 804 students, from charter schools attending attending charter schools, and the district is that they reside in is responsible for all services at that charter school.” She added that 88 of the state’s 176 districts have at least one student with a disability enrolled in a charter school.

Why it matters: Districts must absorb the special-education costs for those charter students. DOE staff said most districts do not break charter-related special-education expenses into a separate budget line; instead the cost shows up as part of broader special-education categories such as speech services or other staff time. “If we're providing services to a charter school for something like speech, usually, we're doing it with our own staff,” DOE staff said. That staff time is entered in the district’s speech budget rather than as a separate charter-specific line item.

Commission members pressed DOE staff about how districts document travel and mileage for staff who must serve charter students at out-of-district sites. DOE described wide variation: some districts include travel as part of in-house staff duties; others build travel or mileage into contracts with outside providers; still others allow mileage reimbursement but do not distinguish special-education travel from other travel in their accounting. One member summarized the practical effect: “You may have some reimbursement for mileage in your budget as a whole, for staff as a whole, but not necessarily broken out specifically by the speech pathologist…”

Commission discussion also covered three service-delivery options for charter students: (1) the district sends its own staff to the charter site; (2) a district hires contracted staff who travel to the charter; or (3) the district contracts with the charter school to have the charter’s certified staff deliver services. DOE staff said it is uncommon for a district to contract with another public district to provide those services.

The commissioners requested further district-level data showing how charter-related special-education costs are reported on DOE submissions and asked staff to provide examples of district budget line items and contracts that include travel or contractor fees. The request aims to clarify how much of the cost is absorbed locally and how much can be attributed to charter enrollments.

The commission asked DOE to follow up with district-level DOE-25 detail showing how charter-related services are recorded for instruction, related services, transportation and administration.