Board approves contract to secure outside IEP writing at $500 per plan

The Scobey K-12 Schools board voted to hire an independent contractor, Belida, to write individualized education programs (IEPs) at $500 per IEP for the 2025–26 school year.

The move followed a discussion about capacity and licensure: the co-op director (S6) told trustees that current staff may not hold the required special-education licensure and that increasing caseloads risked overloading existing employees. "Basically, what this is doing is kind of ensures that we're gonna stay legally acceptable in our IEPs," the co-op director said, explaining the district's need for outside help.

Board members discussed pricing and time estimates. The co-op director said a typical IEP can take "4 hours to 5" for many cases and that some IEPs can require "8 hours," citing examples from other sites where outside providers billed higher rates. During debate one trustee said $500 per IEP was "more than acceptable," while others called $700 "getting crazy."

A committee member (S4) moved to hire Belida as an independent contractor at $500 per IEP; the motion was seconded and recorded as approved in the transcript. The board recorded support for the hire; the meeting transcript records multiple "Aye" responses after the motion.

Board members noted this arrangement is intended to maintain legal compliance rather than represent a long-term staffing plan. Participants discussed creating a director-level special-education position or otherwise restructuring to make IEP coverage sustainable, but no formal change to staff roles was adopted at the meeting.

The board completed the personnel action and moved to other agenda items.