The high cost of special education has caused a deficit in the Darien school system's budget, which also happened last year, according to Director of Finance Richard Huot. The budget this year is expected to fall short by $476,879.
The costs come from tuition costs for special education students enrolled in private schools outside the district. At the beginning of the year, the school system had apportioned $1,128,458 but had spent $1,722,433 by the beginning of March.
Huot said he expected the final costs to be $2,254,818 by the end of the school year. Board of Education Chairwoman Kim Westcott said she will notify the Board of Finance. Last year, the school district requested an additional $350,000 from the town but paid back $257,000 that it did not spend.
Other special education costs have also risen higher than expected. Huot said the district would spend an extra $111,104 on consultant services, $149,339 on legal services, $72,998 on transportation and $44,222 on a therapy consultant.
Westcott said the lack of funds was in part because of unfunded state mandates. "If we were fully funded by excess cost grants then that would give us another $1 million. With another $1 million, we would not be in this position," he said.
The Darien school system has requested $3,588,722 from the state in excess cost grants to help with expenses, but Huot said he was conservatively predicting it would pay only 75 percent of that.
Superintendent Stephen Falcone said efforts were being made to cut costs. "We have curtailed any spending that is not directly related to instruction. We are going to try to meet this budget."
Huot said he expected the district to save $185,530 on health insurance costs, $47,193 on Medicare and $57,500 on telephone services.
What do you think of the Board of Education's budget running over? Start a conversation in the comments below, on Facebook and on Twitter.
Click here to follow Daily Voice and receive free news updates.
