York City SD officials cite surge in autism cases, propose hybrid classrooms and paraeducator coach; project nearly $844K in Medicaid reimbursements

Mary Manning, director of special education for the School District of the City of York, told the board that the district’s count of students with a primary disability of autism rose from 217 in May 2024 to 372 on May 11, 2026, and that the increase is straining classroom capacity and staffing.

The rise has forced the district to adopt a mix of classroom models, Manning said, including an "autism hybrid" structure that reclassifies some classes as learning-support/autistic-support to legally allow larger groups—12 to 15 students—so more students can receive small-setting instruction without opening a large number of new full-time classrooms. "Autism, the elephant in every room I go into," Manning said, urging new approaches to accommodate the influx.

Why it matters: the district cannot reliably open five to 10 new full-time autistic-support classrooms each year because of space and staff shortages. Board members and parents pressed for assurances that hybrid placements would not push students into general education before supports are in place; Manning said Individualized Education Programs will remain fluid and paraeducators will accompany students into gen ed settings when they are integrated.

Manning also asked the board to approve a newly created paraeducator coach position aimed at reducing turnover by improving onboarding and on-the-job coaching for paraprofessionals. "Our turnover for paras has been tremendous because they don't get the professional development or the direct line of support that they need and deserve," she said, adding that the coach would help identify missed billable services and support day-to-day practices.

The presentation highlighted life-skills programming changes led by Supervisor Arnaldo Torres and life-skills coach Megan Dubbs. They said the department is using Unique Learning Systems aligned with Dynamic Learning Maps to create cohorts that allow teachers and paraprofessionals to push into general education for instruction and reteach. Torres said the goal is to expand from three cohorts to five, with the highest cohort operating nearly as a full-time learning support class to increase access to PSSA and general-education content.

Awards and family engagement: Manning presented Office of Special Education Awards of Appreciation to paraeducators Calvin Fountain, Whitney Jones, Kenneth (Kenny) Brown and Kendra Tribue for their work in Jackson K–8 emotional-support classrooms. She also described a sensory-sensitive "Harmony Night" that drew about 39 families and volunteer staff participation.

Finance: Dr. Huffnagel, the district official leading access-billing work, described two reimbursement streams under the school-based access program (SBAP): interim payments (received months after logs are submitted) and cost-settlement payments (received about a year later). He said the district received modest interim payments in prior years but is now capturing more documented service logs and has improved billing processes. Conservatively running the formula with cautious administrative percentages, Huffnagel projected $843,933 in cost-settlement revenue to arrive in June 2027 if current logs and documentation withstand audit review. "When we finish this year we're looking at $843,933 dollars conservative that will have coming in in June of 2027," he said.

The district identified steps to protect those funds: strengthen IEP compliance to avoid gaps that nullify billing, monitor and fix logs in real time, train paraprofessionals to identify missed billable minutes, and expand billable services (nursing, social work). Huffnagel emphasized audit defensibility: "Everything is audit defensible. I don't want somebody saying, 'How did you do this? Where did the data come from?'"

What’s next: the board had several follow-up requests for quantification—staffing plans, how many paras the coach would supervise, and the timeline for approving the paraeducator coach position (on that night’s agenda). Manning said the coach hire was on the agenda and hoped for approval to begin onboarding and reduce turnover.

Sources and limits: numbers and projections were presented to the board during the May meeting; the autism counts were given "as of May 11," and the reimbursement projection is a conservative estimate based on current logs and formulas. The presentation included partner provider names and program names as stated during the meeting. Details not provided at the meeting (for example, the exact salary for the paraeducator coach or specific contract language for SBAP claims) were not specified.

The board did not take a separate formal vote on program design during the presentation; formal budget and consent votes occurred later in the meeting.