Other information that may be helpful:
All of the students have IEPs. Many of the students at the school (about 41%) have state agency involvement, a great number (72%) have some type of additional community or outpatient support. About 45% of the students are low-income. 12% of the students do not live at home (with biological or adopted parents).
The school is an out of district placement and students are referred by their home districts with that district funding the $70,000 annual cost and additional transportation costs.
Recently the state has begun to reduce funding for long-term residential facilities, which has resulted in students with more significant behavior being at day schools. And while the school staff is trained and there are sufficient resources to manage these behaviors, there has been an increase in restraints and hospitalizations. This has a great effect on the milieu in both regards to staff and students.
Additionally, state insurance has begun to scrutinize the funds it is reimbursing to public school systems for mental health services, this could potentially affect how the districts are able to fund the placement of students.
There haven’t been merit raises for anyone at the organization for the past two years.
