Region 9 budget workshop spotlights rising special-education and transportation costs as board weighs offsets

Superintendent Alicia presented the Region 9 proposed 2025-26 operating budget and said technical edits have trimmed the year-over-year increase from 5.38% to about 4.98%. The administration identified special education, student transportation, tuition and outplacements as the largest budget drivers and proposed a mix of staffing changes and modest offsets to close the gap.

Why it matters: special-education tuition, outplacement and contracted transportation together account for a major portion of next year's proposed increase. Administrators told the board that a handful of high-cost outplacements can swing the district's tuition totals by hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single year, making year-to-year forecasting uncertain.

The presentation said roughly $233,000 in districtwide transportation costs and rising outplacement tuition are key pressures. The administration reported net changes of about 3 certified FTE reductions and 1 non-certified FTE reduction in the current draft, and said it will return on March 13 with more detailed staffing and health-insurance scenarios.

Board members and staff spent more than an hour on revenue offsets and fee policy. The budget documents show about $69,000 in current fee offsets from athletics participation fees, parking and student activity fees; administrators proposed examining additional levers such as modest increases in pay-to-play fees, charging for a broader set of athletic events, sponsorships, tournaments, and clearer accounting of booster-club contributions. Athletic staff said adult game admission typically runs $5 (students $3) and that football and basketball generate the largest gate revenues.

Special-education staff presented a pipeline analysis showing current and projected numbers for in-district ("basis"/life-skills), bridge programs and outplaced students. The district reported about 101 identified special-education students at the high school, with 20–22 currently outplaced; staff emphasized that high-school populations often have higher outplacement rates because of the complexity of student needs and the availability of specialized placements for older students. The administration said some outplacements are short-term and some are long-term residential placements and that the district pays tuition for the educational portion of residential placements; in rare cases the district pays full residential costs when the residential placement is necessary for the student to access education.

Board members asked for comparative data to understand whether Region 9's outplacement and per-pupil special-education spending diverge from nearby districts. Staff said per-pupil special-education expenditures vary widely in state reporting and cautioned that Region 9's figures look different because it is a high-school-only regional district. The superintendent and special-education staff recommended deeper comparative analysis and asked for more time to provide details on how to get the operating increase closer to a 4.0% target.

Public comment framed the conversation: parent Liz Plastina urged the board to increase special-education funding to ensure classroom supports for neurodiverse students, while Jonathan Webster urged full support for the superintendent's proposal and cited broader program priorities. The board directed administration to return with additional detail and recommended scenarios at the March 13 meeting and left the final vote for the regular meeting schedule.

Next steps: the administration will post answers to outstanding budget questions, provide more detailed staffing and fee-impact scenarios, and return to the board on March 13 with recommendations intended to bring the proposed increase closer to the board's target.