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District staff warn special‑education budget may be short by about $2 million; propose internal transfer and program adjustments
Summary
Finance staff said special‑education costs have risen sharply due to increased contracted services, PCAs and out‑of‑district placements; they proposed moving $800,000 from regular‑education instructional allocations to special‑education contracted services and other adjustments to close the gap.
The finance committee’s April 1 review of the special‑education budget found the district facing a substantial increase in costs driven by professional services, home‑and‑community personal‑care assistants (PCAs), contracted support services and a lag in IU billing. Mr. Tracy said the district is already about $2,000,000 short in the special‑education line based on recent bills and trends and that the spike reflects both increased provider rates and larger numbers of contracted staff (PCAs rose from roughly 22 pre‑COVID to about 47 in some categories in the most recent billing).
Staff broke the drivers into discrete categories: CRES contracted paraeducators (historically a large bucket that has shifted), growth in home‑and‑community PCA services, use of third‑party providers (Soliant, GHR, Maxim, Stepping Stones) for RBTs, nursing and therapy, and compensatory services owed because of prior unfilled positions. Cassandra Jones and Dr. Brady noted that some costs relate to restoring services that went unmet in prior years and that provider rates vary; the district has begun contracting with multiple providers to fill vacancies and meet legally required IEP services.
To address the shortfall, staff proposed an $800,000 internal transfer from an instructional/CRES line into special‑education contracted services (a bookkeeping transfer to reflect where costs belong), include 50% of a basic‑education subsidy and assume $500,000 in Ready‑to‑Learn grant funds, and apply modest medical‑plan savings. Mr. Tracy said these actions will be included in the proposed final budget that staff will present at next week’s board meeting; he recommended continued monitoring and earlier special‑education budgeting next year to better forecast volatility.
The committee did not finalize all corrections but agreed staff should proceed with recommended transfers and present the proposed final budget for board action at the next meeting.
