Rockland, ME: District might be "unable to serve the increasing population of [SPED] students"

Mar 29, 2018, Rockland, ME, Courier Publications: RSU 40 budget to tug at taxpayers' consciences, wallets https://knox.villagesoup.com/p/rsu-40-budget-to-tug-at-taxpayers-consciences-wallets/1733495 After two intense meetings March 19 and March 26 regarding the Regional School Unit 40 proposed budget for 2018-2019, the Budget Committee voted to send a recommended budget of $27,915,895 to the Board of Directors. … At the March 19 meeting, Karen Brackett, director of special services, was the final presenter and told how Superintendent Steve Nolan had asked her to find $485,000 in savings in the existing special education budget to cover costs that were being continually overspent, most notably the tuition to private schools (out-of-district placements). "There was no easy answer, in my mind, to find this money," Brackett said, and she was forced to seek it through staff cuts -- which would equal 11 positions. She said with the rising cost of special education, if the district's budget remains at its current level, even with the funds added back into the budget, she foresees it being unable to serve the increasing population of students in need of special education, especially with the intensity and duration of services some students require. She said the special education population in the district is fluid over the course of the school year, and noted that in one month it climbed from 423 to 430 students identified as being in need of services. She further explained that 10 of those 430 students attend out-of-district placements at a cost ranging from $250 to $360 a day. RSU 40's special needs population is currently at 24 percent. The state average is 15 percent. "We are not just providing academic needs ... we are providing behavioral needs and supports, mental health needs and supports, developmental needs and functional needs across the board," Brackett said. …