March 28, 2024
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State to reduce school special-needs reimbursements

AUGUSTA – Maine school districts must begin picking up part of the tab for the special needs of students who are wards of the state.

The Maine Department of Education notified districts last week that it plans to stop fully reimbursing them for the money spent on thousands of special-needs foster children and others who are wards of the state.

The state historically has reimbursed 100 percent of the costs of special services such as tutoring or speech therapy.

But special education costs are rising so quickly that the state can’t afford to keep up, and the money will run out before year’s end, said Yellow Breen, spokesman for the Education Department.

That means some payments will have to be delayed until July, after the start of the new fiscal year, Breen said.

Commissioner of Education J. Duke Albanese has asked for a 25 percent increase in the 2003 budget for such reimbursements, but he says even that increase will not be enough for the department to continue reimbursing so much.

Many school officials say the state’s new policy of refusing to fully reimburse school districts is not fair.

“They are the children of the state of Maine. We all need to bear the burden,” said SAD 9 Superintendent Michael Cormier.

During the past school year, SAD 9, which includes the Farmington area, had 11 foster children and wards of the state who needed special services. The school district spent $71,000 to educate them.


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