JERRY CITY – Michelle Tuite says Elmwood School District has earned a reputation as offering one of the
best special education programs in the area.
That’s quite a compliment, said the elementary school principal, but that popularity comes with its fare
share of challenges.
Not only does an unplanned increase in students requiring special needs translate to an increase in the
district’s special education budget, but the influx of students also is creating a challenge in meeting
federal academic requirements.
"You can’t budget, I don’t care how good you are, you can’t budget for that," said
Superintendent Tony Borton about the annual increase the district has experienced in its special needs
sector.
The district has about 1,275 students enrolled, with 138 identified last school year with a disability in
prekindergarten through 12th grade. That means 10.8 percent of the district’s enrollment qualifies as
students with disabilities.
The state average is 13 percent, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
With families moving into the district, or students being placed in foster homes, it is a constant
challenge to budget properly in that area, Borton said.
This increase in enrollment already has had an effect on the district’s bottom line this year.
For instance, Treasurer Luann Vanek said she had to ask the board for an increase in general fund
appropriations to cover the cost of sending more Elmwood students to the PATHE Center, a joint
educational and mental health program operated by the Wood County Educational Service Center and the
Children’s Resource Center in Bowling Green.
Last school year, the district spent $100,554 for about five students enrolled at the center. "This
year, we’re looking at $180,502," Vanek said, with nine students enrolled full time. "Of
course, that’s an estimate. Plus, on top of that we have the cost of possibly an aide for one of those
students for another $19,700."
The district also has a special education program supervisor on the payroll, plus an occupational
therapist and both tutors and aides. At Monday’s Board of Education meeting, the therapist was given a
increase of 10 hours weekly at a cost of roughly $14,000.
"Sometimes special education costs are uncontrollable and they’re not easy to manage or
predict," Borton said.
The district does receive some state aid for special education expenses, but not nearly enough to cover
100 percent of the costs, Vanek explained.
Even though the students don’t attend classes at Elmwood, they’re still considered enrolled at the school
and must take the standardized tests that are part of the scoring on the annual State Report Card.
"Even though they’re not here, they’re expected to past the test," said middle school Principal
Dean Bell.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the district’s three principals provided reports on their scores on the 2010-11
Report Cards, which were released in August.
Both Tuite and Bell made specific comments on how students with special needs impacted their scores.
The elementary did not meet adequate yearly progress (AYP), a federally-required measure set for reading
and math proficiency among student subgroups including economically disadvantaged and students with
disabilities.
There were 30 youngsters identified as special needs in prekindergarten through fourth grade who took the
test last year, according to Borton.
Of the five indicators available, covering the academic areas of math, reading and science, the building
met four, missing only fourth-grade math.
"Our math curriculum no longer is aligned with state standards," Tuite told the board. She said
she set the goal to have math proficiency at that grade level be 10 percent higher for 2011-12 than in
2010-11.
Bell said his special education subgroup – there are nine subgroups in all the state tracks, and three
that apply at Elmwood – also has not met reading and math proficiency. Not meeting proficient levels
among special education students continues to hamper the building from meeting AYP, he said.
He had 63 students, or about 16.5 percent of his overall enrollment, in the special needs subgroup in
2010-11. This year, that number increased to 67.
The growing number of students needing specialized services is a challenge, Dean admitted. "And I
think it is a two-pronged challenge because the state continues to want to raise its expectations of
what (students) know and what they’re testing on," he explained. But what he is noting at the
middle school "is greater disabilities than what we were dealing with a number of years ago."
There are fewer and fewer students with learning disabilities and more and more students with autism,
emotional disturbances, and more severe behaviors, he continued.
"While it’s within the realm of possibility to advance an LD student proportionately, sometimes with
these more intensive special education diagnoses it’s more difficult to get one year’s worth of
(academic) growth from them."
Overall, based on the scores, middle school students grades 5-8 found the test challenging and met 6 of
11 indicators on the State Report Card.
The impact of the elementary and middle school not meeting AYP will have an impact on how the district is
rated by the state.
"If you don’t meet AYP for three consecutive years, you’re no better than ‘continuous
improvement,’" Borton explained. Elmwood will drop from "effective" to "continuous
improvement" on the 2011-12 Report Card if scores among special education students don’t improve.
"Every subgroup has to pass the test at the same rate, which is 75 percent," he added.
At the high school, students easily met all 12 indicators which include five subject areas for students
in 10th and 11th grades, plus attendance rate and graduation rate; and it met AYP. The building earned
an "excellent" designation, according to Tom Bentley, principal.
