The big topic for the meeting is what to do about the $500K short-fall in Special Education funding. Due to a number of state placements in our district this school year, we are over budget on Special Education tuition costs and transportation. Last year, the BOE was short $250K in this category but we froze several accounts to help off-set the overrun. However, the State reimbursed Cheshire for most of the expense in the form of revenue to the town which ended up in the town surplus.
However, in the current budget even freezing the usual technology, textbooks and supplies accounts won't cover the $500K shortfall. More than likely, the BOE may ask for help from the TC. Which brings up the issue of how to solve this variable-expense. Unfortunately, the school district does not know what all of the special ed placements are going to be until after the close of the fiscal year, which was June 30th. Most of these State placements occurred in July/August..
I'll post a separate topic about the costs and how Hartford reimburses Cheshire for partial special education expenses. At the least town receives some kind of reimbursement even though Hartford is supposed to follow it's own mandates of full reimbursement.
9 comments:
Tony, what is a "state placement?" What are the three or four main reasons that one occurs?
Tony, Did you ever find out why the last boe meeting was cut off after only about an hour? Will it be on channel 16 in its entirety?
"Tony, what is a "state placement?" What are the three or four main reasons that one occurs?"
State Placement refers to a situation where a Cheshire resident is taken away by DCF and placed in a foster home or school outside of Cheshire <- Cheshire is still liable for costs.
The children placed by the State usually evolves around behavioral and/or emotional issues.
"Tony, Did you ever find out why the last boe meeting was cut off after only about an hour? Will it be on channel 16 in its entirety?"
No, I did not but I will be talking to our A/V guy tonight at Town Hall. I'm also trying to find a better way of getting access to the recorded meetings so I can post up snippets here as needed. Maybe it's time for a Tivo.
That 11-18 meeting was on this afternoon but it shut off as Mr. Sobol was wrapping up his comments. Not sure why the rest of it didn't air.
5:34 I spoke to our technician tonight and he indicated the full meeting was taped but couldn't explain why it was cut off on TV since he only tapes the meetings. But he believes it's possible something happened with the controls/programming setup. However, the BOE meetings (starting this school year) are available on School Tube. The entire 11/18 meeting is available here: http://www.schooltube.com/video/1fe2e6daa3e4f9933baa/Board-of-Education-Meeting-111810
Alan Sobol's segments starts at the 65:30 mark.
Hope this helps.
Tony, I'm a believer that education is extremely important and recognize that comes at a cost... particularly in relation to special ed. I'm comfortable paying more in taxes for special ed students, but also believe there's a point where it is too costly to expect taxpayers to take on the burden. For example, a couple years ago at a Council / BOE meeting we learned of one student who would potentially cost more than $200,000 / yr to educate at some private school in NYC. That was to be a cost borne by Cheshire taxpayers and I disagreed with it. It was simply too much in my opinion.
My questions... in the current year,
How many special ed students are in the district?
And what is the range of costs for the special ed students?
Are there any students incurring bills in excess of $200,000 / yr? Any incurring fees in excess of $100,000 / yr?
Btw, I obviously don't want to know any names. I'm just wondering about the costs... and also, how many students live away from home at taxpayer expense? I recall a student a few years ago who spent summers in Vermont.
Tim, I'm going to publish details separately on the Special Ed account this week. Stay tuned.
thanks.
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