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District to budget full magnet tuition amid uncertain state aid; special-education placements projected to fall
Summary
Region 8 superintendents will budget 100% of magnet/agriscience tuition due to lack of state assurances; administrators also reported a projected drop in out-of-district special-education placements (19 to 17), which reduces tuition expense in next year’s preliminary figures.
Regional School District 08 administrators told the board they will budget conservatively for magnet and agriscience tuition and reported a projected decrease in special-education out-of-district placements.
Officials said they have not received assurances from the state that prior partial reimbursements for magnet and agriscience tuition will continue. As a result, "Region 8 superintendents from Andover, Hebron and Marlboro" decided to budget 100% of magnet tuition rather than assume state funding will be available, a staff presenter said.
Christine Hartwig, the district’s director of pupils, outlined special-education drivers and said the district currently has 19 students in out-of-district placements and projects 17 next year. "For next year, we're projected to have 17 students," Hartwig said. She told the board the change in placements was a main reason for a meaningful projected decline in special-education tuition expense and that transportation and contracted service costs (for example, physical therapy) are still rising.
Hartwig also described how the district budgets excess-cost reimbursement. She said the state moved to a tiered system that targeted higher reimbursement (a 70% tier), but the district has not consistently achieved that level and therefore planned conservatively. "We went to a new system... supposed to get 70 percent. And so for the past two years, we have not achieved that 70% and because of the climate that we're in, I took it down to 60%," she said, explaining the district’s revenue assumption for budgeting purposes.
Board members pressed for clarity on the distinction between magnet tuition and high-cost outplacements, noting that outplacement tuition and services can be substantially higher than magnet tuition. Administrators explained that magnet/agri tuition tends to be a lower-cost category compared with intensive out-of-district placements, which can carry large excess-cost reimbursements when services exceed a multiple of per-pupil costs.
Administrators said they will circulate a chart and tuition projections to board members for follow-up and will publish the presentation materials; they encouraged board members to ask additional questions by email.
