Superintendents ask lawmakers to ease special education costs for all

Date: 3/29/2023

School districts across the state were hit with an unexpected increase in their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year when the state Operational Services Division raised the cost of out-of-district placements by 14%. Language in Gov. Maura Healey’s proposed fiscal year 2024 budget attempts to address the impact on school districts, but the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents has contended there would be “unintended and negative consequences.”

Out-of-district placements are utilized when students cannot receive adequate educational services in their own district. While most of these are in response to special education requirements, some out-of-district placements are in response to behavioral challenges or at the behest of the state Department of Child and Family Services. School districts pay a state-set tuition for the placements. In a typical year, inflationary pressures lead to an increase in tuition that ranges from 1.5% to 2.5%, rather than 14%.

Tom Scott, executive director of MASS, issued a letter to the chairs of the state Senate and House Ways and Means committees in which the body decried the “extraordinary increase,” stating that superintendents were not given a chance for input before the decision was made and that the hike will “triggering teacher layoffs, across the board cuts, fee increases and override requests,” leading to larger class sizes in 2023-24.

To address this issue, Healey’s proposed supplemental budget includes a line item that provides $75 million “to assist school districts in managing extraordinary increases in tuition prices for approved special education placement programs.”

However, in its letter, MASS stated that the way the relief is written will “create unintended and negative consequences for many districts.” At issue is what the organization called an “arbitrary cutoff” in which districts with a net increase of instructional costs of 10% or more will receive 100% reimbursement for those costs, but districts that come in below that threshold are exempt from the relief. This is “exceedingly unfair,” MASS stated.

Instead, it has requested the Legislature institute a statewide reimbursement of 100% of costs over the 2% historical average, with the remaining 12% of the increase to be covered by the governor’s $75 million line item.

“I do support the points in the letter,” said East Longmeadow Public Schools Superintendent Gordon Smith. “The 14% increase for out-of-district tuition is a significant increase and does present challenges for the budget next year. Earlier in March, the Connecticut Valley Superintendents’ Roundtable held a luncheon for area legislators, and this was a key item in our discussion with the legislators who attended.
Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District Superintendent John Provost, known at HWRSD, joined by the School Committee and leadership from both towns recently reached out to state Sen. Jake Oliveira (D-Ludlow) and state Reps. Angelo Puppolo (D-Springfield) and Brian Ashe (D-Longmeadow) to say that they support MASS’s 2% proposal.

The jump in out-of-district placement costs, coupled with an increase in the number of students requiring those placements, has increased HWRSD’s budget by $488,650 and is a major factor in the district’s 3.97% increase to the budget, despite being able to provide less than level services.

“I ask that you continue to be the voice of advocacy,” Provost implored the lawmakers.

Reminder Publishing reached out to the Longmeadow Public Schools Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea for comment but did not hear back by press time.