The Superintendents Council must decide Friday if special education programs for some of the county's most severely disabled and hardest-to-help students should be taken away from the Stanislaus County Office of Education.
Families have protested vehemently that school districts failed to help their children, and only the county office has the expertise to deal with very difficult cases.
But superintendents deal with dollars.
Local school districts have lost about 20 percent of their funding in recent years, according to a report commissioned by the Superintendents Council. But special education programs have largely been spared.
Extra costs of special education students are mainly for class aides, busing, modified school equipment or special therapies. Special education classes generally have far fewer students.
Here is a sampling of other cuts local districts have made:
• HUGHSON: Raised class sizes; cut high school auto shop and woodshop classes; laid off one of the district's two counselors; cut jobs for groundskeepers, custodians, campus supervisors, classroom aides, two principals, vice principal and district office clerk
• OAKDALE: A 2.5 percent reduction in salary plus five furlough days for all staff and management
• TURLOCK: Closed a small school; raised class sizes; cut reading programs; cut salaries by 3 percent; reduced busing for special programs and junior high sports; deferred maintenance; eliminated administrative retreat; ended robotics program; cuts to summer school, adult education and GED testing
• CERES: Took an 8.5 percent salary cut, some of which was offset by one-time jobs dollars
• MODESTO CITY SCHOOLS: Cut five days from school year plus 1 percent to 2 percent salary cuts; raised class sizes slightly; added energy conservation program; cut some administrative positions
• KEYES: Salary and benefit cuts; four to six furlough days without cutting school year
Source: school district documents
The county office of education provides services for about 14 percent of the districts' special ed students, with the districts picking up the cost. And after the districts made painful budget cuts, the rising cost of county office services has come under scrutiny.
The Superintendents Council oversees special education in Stanislaus County, except for Modesto City Schools, which runs its own programs.
The proposal, to be heard Friday, would shift county office services to a local school district, where costs are estimated to be 17.5 percent less.
"Ultimately it comes down to this: We have to look at how much it costs to run a program and we need to look at running this in the most cost-efficient way," Ceres Unified Superintendent Scott Siegel said.
Stanislaus County Superintendent of Schools Tom Changnon calls Friday's vote "a critical decision," for the county office and its staff. "They're passionate about providing outstanding programs for these special students and none of us wants to see program quality compromised," he said.
The county office has cut administrative jobs and reduced overhead to help meet the savings goal.
A decision last month was delayed until Friday, the deadline to manage such a large undertaking by July if the council votes to proceed, said special education Director Regina Hedin.
Siegel was on a three-man committee tasked with coming up with a compromise to avoid shifting about 380 county employees to a new boss and the $22.5 million budget to a new office. Services and placements for the 1,200 affected students in theory would not change under the plan.
A tentative deal by the committee proposes spreading cuts over three years, with options if cost savings don't materialize. The nine-member council must approve the pact.
The compromise also hinges on county office teachers voting Tuesday to accept a cap on health benefits, estimated to save $740,000 a year. Under long-standing contract language, county teachers' benefits have risen unchecked and cost $13,208 per teacher annually, more than double what other county office employees receive.
The proposed contract would not affect teacher salaries, county office personnel said. County office teachers made on average $72,000 in the 2009-10 school year, according to state figures. Teacher salaries in the two districts most likely to receive the programs, Ceres and Turlock Unified, are roughly similar when allowing for extra certifications and seniority.
Modesto City Schools teachers made on average $79,000, with fewer benefits. The district runs its own special education programs, but contracts with the county office for very aggressive students it does not have facilities to handle, said Ginger Johnson, Modesto's assistant superintendent for special education.
Johnson said placing a student at John F. Kennedy School, a county site with only high-risk or medically fragile students, costs about $70,000 a year. The program uses roughly as many adults as students, staff trained to diffuse crisis situations and block physical attacks.
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