District outlines special-education cost pressures and proposes third social worker
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Summary
District student-services staff told the board that rising out-of-district tuition, transportation and a higher deductible under excess-cost rules are driving budget pressure and proposed adding a third social worker to address increasing referrals and supervision needs.
District student-services staff told the board the main drivers of the student-services budget are rising out-of-district tuition and transportation costs, and changes to excess-cost reimbursement that increase the local deductible.
The presenter explained the excess-cost calculation using the district's per-pupil figure and an example tuition bill: “Our per pupil cost is the $24,008.34,” the presenter said, and used that number to illustrate how a high-cost outplacement (an example tuition cited at $186,000) translates into a large deductible the district must reach before state reimbursement applies.
Staff said the district is seeing an upward trend in referrals and out-of-district placements that are expensive to serve locally. To increase capacity and on-site support, the presenter outlined a request to add a third social worker and proposed tighter caseload alignments so social workers could provide more on-site supervision and intervention across levels.
Board members pressed for comparative metrics and measures of program effectiveness, asking for district-to-district comparisons, social-worker-to-student ratios, and clearer ROI measures that could be reviewed by the policy & negotiation committee (PNC) prior to final budget decisions. The board asked staff to provide more granular referral-type data and comparative social-worker ratios to inform the April budget adoption.
Next steps: staff agreed to provide comparative metrics, referral-type breakdowns, and additional detail at a PNC follow-up meeting and in advance of the April budget adoption.
