Special-education director raises concern: district may bear costs when students reside in nursing facilities

Special-education director Dr. Jan informed the board that the district is examining a state-policy question that could impose unplanned costs on local special-education budgets.

Dr. Jan said that under longstanding guidance she and several colleagues reviewed, districts have been required to cover educational costs for students placed in residential settings when parents reside in the district. She said recent interpretations appear to treat nursing-facility placements differently from mental-health residential placements: in some cases, districts may be expected to pay educational costs for students placed in nursing facilities rather than the state covering those costs.

"So that means that all of those students' costs... we have to pay," Dr. Jan said, explaining that services can include occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing care and two-person staffing needs for students with intensive medical requirements. She told the board the district currently has two students whose parents moved into the district and whose placements raised these unbudgeted costs.

Dr. Jan said special-education directors will invite a state representative to the next directors’ meeting to seek clarification and to ask whether the state will assume these costs in the same way it does for mental-health residential placements. Board members acknowledged the fiscal impact and asked that staff return with more detail about the district’s exposure and next steps.

Next steps: state representatives will be asked to address the directors’ group to clarify who must fund educational services for students in nursing facilities; the district will assess budgetary implications and report back.