Portland schools recommend phased takeover of early-childhood special-education services from CDS
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Summary
Portland Public Schools staff recommended opting into cohort 3 of the state-mandated Child Development Services transition, proposing a phased approach: serve four-year-olds next school year and add three-year-olds the following year, with state reimbursement for special-education costs but some funding definitions still to be clarified.
Portland Public Schools staff recommended Dec. 16 that the district opt into cohort 3 of a state-mandated transition that moves special-education services for children ages 3–5 from Child Development Services (CDS) to school administrative units.
Katie Soucy, senior director for early childhood education, told the board the steering committee recommends a phased approach: assume responsibility for four-year-olds at the start of the next school year and add three-year-olds the year after. Soucy said the phased plan is intended to build district capacity, reduce transition risk and align with neighboring districts also joining cohort 3.
Staff proposed adding roughly six pre-K classrooms (about 58–60 additional pre-K seats), expanded itinerant services (speech, OT and other related services), and new administrative and case-management capacity, including an early-childhood special-education director. Soucy said about 31% of the district’s current pre-K population already have IEPs.
On funding, staff repeatedly said the state will reimburse ‘‘reasonable and necessary’’ expenses for delivering a free appropriate public education for three- to five-year-olds, and that payments are made quarterly because children enter IEPs on a rolling basis. Board members pressed for detail on how the state will define ‘‘reasonable and necessary’’ and whether the reimbursement formula will fully cover associated general-education costs; staff said those definitions remain to be clarified in negotiations with the Department of Education and that districts will submit a proposed budget to the state as part of the cohort process.
Board members discussed child-find and referral pathways, including referrals from pediatricians or community partners and how CDS will continue as an early-intervention and referral hub during the transition. Staff explained that referrals to CDS can be routed to the proper district and that some safeguards are in place to reduce delays.
Katie Soucy said the district aims to begin serving four-year-olds next school year and to expand to three-year-olds the following year, with ongoing community engagement, new family materials, website updates, partner-site agreements and metrics for monitoring IEP development and implementation.
Board members asked whether the new responsibilities would move the district closer to universal pre-K; staff said the proposed six-classroom expansion would raise seats from about 264 to roughly 320, narrowing the gap.
Next steps: staff recommended making the district’s intent clear in January (the Department of Education has a Feb. 2 deadline for cohort processes), crafting a proposed budget and staffing list for state review, and bringing a resolution for the board to consider in January.
