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January 24, 2011

Agency to audit special ed funding

By Paul Leighton Staff writer

BEVERLY — The School Department plans to hire an outside agency to audit its special education program and identify possible cost savings.

"They'll give us recommendations for how we can do things more efficiently," Superintendent Marie Galinski told the City Council on Monday night.

Galinski said the School Department has selected a company to do the audit, but the choice must be approved by the School Committee based on the cost.

Special education costs are coming under renewed scrutiny after Galinski revealed the schools are on track to spend $200,000 more than budgeted for special education this year. Last year, Beverly spent about $8 million on special education.

Nearly 1,000 Beverly students are in special education programs. The cost can range from $10,000 to $223,000 per student, depending in large part on whether students are educated in Beverly schools or require placement in an out-of-district program.

Schools are required by state law to provide special education for students from ages 3 to 22 and to pay their transportation costs after the sixth grade. The state has cut reimbursements for special education costs from 72 percent to 38 percent.

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