District officials: special-education growth and staffing requirements driving budget strain

District staff and task-force members singled out the growth of special-education programs as a major budget pressure. Paul Durban told the group the district's special-education cross-subsidy — the gap between actual program cost and state-allocated revenue — is about $2.5 million.

Task-force members and staff described Level 3 special-education classrooms with mandated adult-to-student ratios: meeting text listed example classrooms with 5 to 7 students that require two to three paraeducators plus a teacher, and noted intensive needs (diapering, one-on-one support, in-building transportation) and costly staff training, such as six hours of de-escalation training per staff member outside regular hours.

Speakers said third-party billing (medical assistance reimbursements) yields some revenue for services like speech and OT but is a relatively small funding source and requires credentialed staff who can bill. Members also raised staffing shortages that constrain the district's ability to concentrate specialized services in a single building and noted cooperative arrangements (a regional co-op for higher-level placements) that are also facing capacity challenges.

No formal decisions were made; the group agreed to include special-education impacts in the capacity study and to gather peer-district examples of how others managed staffing and program placement when enrollment trends shift.