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Millcreek presenter says rising special-education and English-learner needs are straining school buildings and budgets
Summary
An unnamed Millcreek Township SD presenter told the board that stable overall enrollment hides growing special-education and English-learner populations, which require lower student-to-staff ratios and are driving space and budget pressure; the presenter outlined a draft budget timeline for March–May.
An unnamed district presenter for Millcreek Township SD told the board that while total enrollment is relatively flat, growing special-education and multilingual-learner (MLL/EL) populations are creating a shortage of usable classroom space and driving up costs.
“Why is that? Because ratios—well, our kindergarten classroom could be, what, 1 to 20, and autistic classrooms 1 to 8,” the presenter said, noting the lower ratios for special programs and adding that placing an additional autistic classroom costs roughly $210,000. The presenter said Millcreek’s special-education share rose from about 14.7% in 2013 to about 20.8 most recently, and EL/MLL share climbed from about 1.2% to roughly 5.4%.
The presenter described state mandates—especially special-education ratios—as effectively unfunded,…
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