The Franklin Public Schools budget for 2010 allocates 83% of its funds to salaries, health insurance, and special education, with significant expenditures on out-of-district tuition and transportation as mandated by federal and state laws. The budget emphasizes the need to provide a free and appropriate education for students with disabilities, adhering to legislative requirements for least restrictive environments and specialized programming. Additionally, the budget is affected by various cost drivers, including changes in student needs and the impact of educational collaboratives.

1. Franklin Public Schools
School Budget Drivers
Salary
Health Insurance
Transportation
Special Education

2. Salaries and fringe benefits account for
83% of the 2010 budget
2010 Budget
(in Millions)
Other Expenses
$2.3
Total
Transport - Reg.
2010
& SPED Budget
$2.4
Salaries
$37.8 $50,297,820
Out of District
Tuition
$3.8
Health &
Medicare Costs
$4.0
Source: Franklin Public Schools Note: Other Expenses include Materials, PD and Contracted Services

3. Salary Budget
 75% of Budget
 Salary Steps and Lanes
 Contractual Obligations
 Course reimbursement
 Longevity payments

4. Health Insurance
 8% of Budget
 Re-design of Health Plans=Lower Costs

5. Transportation
 Cost of contract – 2.4M overall
 Pay to Ride
 In- district Special Education
 Out of district Special Education
Transportation

6. Special Education
Programmatic and Budgetary
Requirements
Franklin Public Schools
Sally Winslow & Beth Fitzmaurice
January 25, 2010

7. General Assumptions
 Special Education services for eligible
students are mandated by federal and
state regulations
 The Federal Law is IDEIA 2004
(Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act)
 The State Law is 603 CMR 28:00
(formerly Chapter 766)

8. General Assumptions
 All school districts must follow federal
requirements under the law
 State requirements must at a minimum
be consistent with federal law, but can
exceed federal requirements

9. General Assumptions
 Under the law, school districts are
required to provide eligible students
with a Free and Appropriate Public
Education (FAPE) within the Least
Restrictive Environment (LRE)

10. General Assumptions
 The school district must be able to provide services
to students with a range of needs
 The types of services and programming provided
continually change to reflect the current needs of
students
 Most students will access the curriculum through
services/programs within the school district (LRE)
 Some children with more intensive, low incidence
disabilities will require highly specialized outside
placements in order to access the curriculum

11. General Assumptions
 Recommendations around eligibility and
placements are made by the Special
Education “TEAM”
 The TEAM develops an “IEP” (Individual
Education Program) which includes services
to be implemented in the LRE for that child
 Recommendations to place a child in an out
of district placement are made only after all
options within the school have been
exhausted (LRE)

12. Types of Evaluations
 Psychological (Cognitive)
 Academic Achievement
 Educational History
 Classroom Teacher Report
 Home Assessment
 Speech & Language
 Occupational Therapy
 Physical Therapy
 Specialty Evaluations

13. Disability Categories
 Autism
 Developmental Delay (3-9 yr olds)
 Intellectual Impairment
 Sensory: Hearing, Vision, Deaf-Blind
 Neurological
 Emotional
 Communication
 Physical
 Specific Learning
 Health

14. Eligibility for Services: Four
Criteria
 Child must have a disability in one of the
federally defined disability categories
 Child is not making effective progress in
school
 The lack of progress is due to the child’s
disability
 The child requires specially designed
instruction or related services in order to
access the general education curriculum

15. Continuum of Services
 In District Programs:
 Full Inclusion Program
 Partial Inclusion Program
 Substantially Separate Classroom
 Out-of-District Programs:
 Public Day School (9100 line)/Collaborative (9400 line)
 Private Day School (9300 line)
 Residential School (9300 line)
 Out of State Programs (9200 line)

16. Educational Collaboratives
 Educational Collaboratives are public
entities comprised of member school
districts who join together to develop
cost effective programming for low
incidence student populations
 FPS belongs to two Educational
Collaboratives: BiCounty (BICO)
Collaborative and ACCEPT Collaborative

17. Educational Collaboratives
 Substantially Separate Programs,
located within public school buildings
 Annie Sullivan Middle School
 Franklin High School
 Public Day Programs, located in free
standing facilities having no onsite
access to inclusive services

18. Eligible Students
 Pre-School: 101
 Elementary: 411
 Middle: 276
 High School: 303
 Total: 1091

19. Continuum of Services
State Rate Franklin Public
Schools (1091)
Full Inclusion 55.7 % 63.2%
Program
Partial Inclusion 22.5 % 18%
Program
Substantially 15.1 % 13.2%
Separate Classroom
Collaborative, Day 6.7 % 5.6%
School or Residential
School

20. Out of District Students
 MA Public Schools: 15
 Collaborative Programs: 19
 Private Day: 29
 Residential: 14
 Institutionalized Setting: 0
 Total: 77

21. Transportation Services
 Under the Law, school districts are mandated
to provide transportation to students with
disabilities in the same manner as it would for
all students
 If the child is placed away from the local
school, transportation must be provided
 If due to a disability the child requires special
transportation in order to participate in
services, the school must provide it

22. Special Education
Transportation
 Regular School Bus
 Franklin Vans (88)
 Parent Reimbursement (5)
 Private Vendors (61)
 Ambulance Service (0)

23. Out of District Tuitions
 MA Public Schools and Collaboratives set their own
tuitions and are the most cost-effective
 Private School rates are governed by the MA
Operational Services Division (OSD)
 Some private school programs have applied for
rate increases through “Program Reconstruction”
 School districts are provided with some relief from
special education costs (OOD & In-District
expenses) through Circuit Breaker

24. Current OOD Tuitions (As of 1/15/10)
 MA Public Schools: $ 202,035
 Collaboratives: $ 906,144
 Day Programs: $ 1,590,253
 Residential Programs: $ 1,922,277
 Total: $ 4,620,710
 Per Pupil Expenditure to Out of District Schools:
FPS = $18,373 & State Average = $20,497

25. Other Cost Drivers
 Contractual Services
 Psychological Services
 Adapted Equipment/Assistive
Technology
 Independent Educational Evaluations
 Legal cases/hearings
 Emergency Evaluation and Placement
needs

26. Other Variables having
Budgetary Impact
 Students with significant needs moving into the
district
 Students with significant needs moving out of the
district
 Students requiring additional services or 1:1 inclusion
aide
 Changes in student placement to more or less
restrictive settings
 Unilateral placements
 Influence from State Agencies (DCF, DMH, DDS)

27. What is Circuit Breaker?
 Expenses claimed from this year are
reimbursed next year
 Transportation can not be claimed
 Claim = $ tuition – 4(foundation) x 30%
 Foundation rate increases each year
 Reimbursement % has decreased each year
 FY 08 = 72%, FY 09 = 70%, FY10 = 35%

28. The moral of the story …
 Special Education spending is a moving
target based on many variables

29. Balancing Act—Doing what’s right
for kids & being fiscally responsible
The Budget
Student Needs