School Board Hears Special Ed Budget

The Ridgefield Public Schools special education budget is slated to rise 3.28 percent, to $8.5 million, in 2010-11 in the proposal special ed director Karen Berasi presented to the Board of Education on Wednesday night.

There are currently about 540 special education students in grades K-12 in the school system, Berasi said. And they all have individualized learning plans, ranging from students with language disabilities to students with such severe disabilities they are schooled at facilities out of state.

The school foots the bill involved in executing those plans, whose customized natures makes the budget a "moving target."

And as services for the students rise, state reimbursement continues to drop, from 70 percent this year to a projected 60 percent of excess cost reimbursements next year.

Because special education costs are projected to rise in coming years in the district, especially due to increased numbers of students with autism matriculating, Berasi said her focus will be on professional development to help create an in-house skill base that marks an investment now but would save the system money in the future.

Berasi also gave the presentation on student support services, which is requesting an additional parttime high school nurse. She asked a current school nurse there, Sharon Windisch, to explain the proposed addition.

Higher numbers of students are dealing with mental illnesses than in past years, Windisch said. So nurses, who this fall also dealt with the H1N1 spread, must monitor more students who are prescribed psychiatric medications and then return to school before adjusting to them, she said.

"Now it's up to us to assess this child, make sure they're safe," she said. "We're like a step-down unit." The new hire would raise the budgeted amount going to what would be 14 district nurses by 8.4 percent, to about $527,000.