Manchester, NH: "Growing SPED pop., rising cost of. . . complex needs"
- The end of childhood
- 11 hours ago
- 3 min read
Jan 28, 2026, InkLink News: School committee reacts to special education overview presentation
MANCHESTER, NH – Manchester’s growing special education population and the rising cost of serving students with complex needs took center stage at the January 27, 2026, Manchester Board of School Committee meeting as administrators warned of continued financial pressure heading into the 2026 – ‘27 school year.
Manchester School District Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Ryan Roth and Executive Director of Student Services and Wellness Aisha Weaver presented a districtwide overview showing that more than half of Manchester’s special education students require significant services,
At the beginning of 2025’-26 school year, there were 3,065 individualized educational plans or IEPs for children with special needs, with 292 delivered with services outside the district’s 20 buildings. As of now, 318 are served out of district. Roth said that the change did not occur because of enrollment growth but a change in needs for students. . . .
. . . Still, the total special education budget is expected to be over $1 million over budget and may change over time due to changing needs. A total of 26 of the out-of-district required IEPs cost approximately $600,000.
The Manchester School District’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget had grown to $237,999,925 from $183,052,004 for Fiscal Year 2026. Initially the Manchester Board of School Committee recommended $246,050,206 for the Fiscal Year ’26 budget.
Manchester School District Superintendent Jenn Chmiel told the board that there are efforts to increase the number of in-district placements in the future whenever possible, with an increase of specialized classrooms put into effect as part of Phase One of the district’s facility plan.
Weaver said that the caseloads of our occupational therapy providers, speech therapy providers, and physical therapy providers have increased during Fiscal Year 2026 as a direct result of the increase in students identified with special education and related services, as well as the need for a self-contained educational environment. An additional three self-contained classrooms are also expected to be needed for elementary students, primarily for autistic-spectrum and developmental delay students. . . .
Want also asked for additional projections regarding enrollment for special education students, but Chmiel said that it can be difficult to predict needs each year, especially with out-of-district placements. . . .
Roth added that on a national level, variations in special needs cases vary by 2-4 percent each year and that the proportion of special needs students and those needing out-of-district services in Manchester is comparable to other school districts in New Hampshire. . . .
Chmiel later responded to a comment from Board of School Committee Vice Chair Jim O’Connell seeing a paradox between administrators saying the district is doing “just fine” regarding special education services while also needing more resources, disagreeing with Roth’s statement about people from other districts seeing Manchester’s special education services in a positive light.
She told O’Connell that no one said that the district was doing “just fine” in this regard, noting that the district’s special education staff is smaller than needed and cost estimates can be provided to address this shortfall. Chmiel also challenged O’Connell’s assessment around the reputation of the district’s special education services, stating that outcome data is showing that special education subgroups are performing at a higher level than has been seen in the past. . . .
“We need help, we have increasing costs and increasing challenges. It’s an issue for us as a school committee; it’s an issue for the city (and) it’s an issue for the state,” O’Connell said. .
. .
Comments