O’Fallon District 203 looking to save money by cutting BASSC services

Cost and keeping students closer to home are driving the moves some districts are making to educate their own special eduction students in lieu of decades-old cooperatives.

O’Fallon Township High School is the latest district to consider a move. The Belleville Area Special Service Cooperative will discuss allowing O’Fallon Township High to withdraw from BAASC at the 6 p.m. board meeting Wednesday at the BASSC board room.

Earlier this month, Harmony District 175 in Belleville tabled a vote to bring a special services organization to the school; and this school year is the first that Columbia District 4 will completely educate its own special education students.

BASSC Executive Director Jeff Daugherty and O’Fallon Superintendent Darcy Benway said any such agreement would not impact this coming school year. Benway says the very earliest the change would take place would be for the 2016-17 school year; only O’Fallon Township High School District 203 would be impacted.

“Parents can anticipate receiving services in the same manner that they did for this upcoming school year,” Benway said, adding the district wants “stakeholder” involvement and says the move is in the very early stages.

BASSC services include an off-site program for students who have substantial social, emotional and behavior disorders as well as programs for students with autism, audiology and central auditory processing problems, and offers music therapy, occupational therapy, orientation and mobility, physical therapy and speech and language therapy.

Daugherty said some of the students in question are classified as high-needs students.

“We’re on the very beginnings on this journey to bring our special education students home,” Benway said. “We believe in OTHS and in our delivery method for education.”

Daugherty said he did not know the specific details of the school’s plan.

“If I were talking to a parent right now, I would recommend that they talk to the O’Fallon district about ‘what is the plan, how are we going to staff, what is our philosophy.’ It goes a lot deeper than saying ‘We’re going to hire a teacher and two paraprofessionals,’ ” he said.

Benway said the special education students would be self-contained, and the district would make “every accommodation” for the students.

They’ll have to, says Carol Root, director of the Perandoe Special Education District, which provides in-school services to eight districts in Randolph and Monroe counties; a ninth district, Columbia, left the cooperative effective July 1. Perandoe lost about $460,000 in annual revenue when Columbia left, she said.

“They have to have a very thorough plan approved by the state (the Illinois State Board of Education) to show they can provide all the services,” she said. “It’s a huge learning curve, I’ll put it that way.”

Columbia school officials could not be reached for comment.

Expected savings

Benway says the high school can do all of that, while providing better value to the taxpayers. In the last three years, the district has paid about $690,000 for BASSC services for about 20 students, she said. That does not include transportation costs.

She says the savings to the district could be substantial.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” she says, adding that parents and other interested stakeholders also need to be involved in the process, but she thinks the district could save at least $230,000 a year and as much as $430,000.

“As superintendent, I’m very conservative. I really think we’re going to save $350,000 to $400,000, but I know unexpected things may come up. If we’re providing in-district, more people may want to move into our district,” she said.

The costs to educate special education students has “skyrocketed” she said, with the state’s funding lagging behind.

“State funding for special education falls way below the cost to educate special education students; it’s not even close,” she said. “We’ve had fantastic experiences with BASSC; we just believe we can do a little better.”

This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 5:09 PM with the headline "O’Fallon District 203 looking to save money by cutting BASSC services."