Board raises process concerns over Westmoreland IU request to raise Clearview daily rates

At its Jan. 12 meeting the Franklin Regional School Board scrutinized a request from the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit to amend daily budget rates for Clearview programs, saying the change appears aimed at reducing large end-of-year reconciliations but that the process raised questions among district officials.

A presenter explained the new daily rates proposed for programs would be roughly $260 for life-skills support, $300 for emotional support, $280 for autistic support and $320 for multiple-disability services. The presenter said the change is intended to reduce large reconciliations that occurred after districts received final bills last year.

A district representative who sits on the IU board told trustees the item "was never discussed at the board level" of the IU and that he could not explain why the change was being brought now. Another board member described the previous practice as "spitballed," saying operations staff set per-diems to be competitive with approved private schools and then reconciled costs at year-end, creating budgeting unpredictability.

One school official said some districts received reconciling invoices of more than $100,000 after reconciliation for the 2024–25 year, and trustees said the lack of prior IU-board discussion and transparency was their chief concern. The superintendent said he asked for benchmark data from other intermediate units to compare practices and costs.

No formal vote on the WIU rate change was recorded in the meeting minutes excerpt; board members urged additional transparency and that the issue be raised with the IU board and the finance committee before a final district position is adopted.