District 181 Aims to Stand On Its Own for Special Education (IL)

May 24, 2010

School District 181 is considering withdrawing from a special education consortium that serves several area school districts — the first member of the consortium to do so.

On Monday, May 24, the Community Consolidated School District 181 Board of Education is expected to discuss, and vote on, the possibility of leaving the La Grange Area Department of Special Education.

LADSE supplies a portion of special education services to the district, said District 181 Superintendent Robert Sabatino.

“This would be the first step in the process of leaving the cooperative,” Sabatino said. “If the board approves leaving the cooperative, our target for bringing all special education services in-house would be the 2011-2012 academic school year.”

District 181 is one of 17 school districts that contracts with LADSE for a variety of special education services.

Sabatino said the district has been evaluating its participation in LADSE for a few years, and board members supported leaving the consortium at a May 10 Committee of the Whole meeting.
Board member M arc Monyek said the district’s ability to provide instruction to students with special needs has increased during the past few years.

“Where we once chronically underperformed in special education, we have since made amazing progress,” Monyek said. “All too often in the past, we were underperforming while paying full freight.”

District officials said federal funding earmarked for special education that goes to LADSE could be more effectively used by the district if the withdrawal is executed.

“This isn’t about saving money because the money we would spend on hiring our own staff and delivering all programs in-house, versus the federal funds we would receive are about a wash,” Sabatino said. “What we would gain is more control because those who would deliver the services would do so only within our district, whereas LADSE-supplied staff may work several districts at a time.

“I have every confidence the district has the capacity to bring those services currently supplied by LADSE in-house and do so in a fiscally responsible way,” Sabatino said.

If the School Board adopts a resolution calling for leaving LADSE, the LADSE board of directors would have to grant permission to leave the group.

The LADSE board meets May 26. And if members oppose the board’s decision, the district’s next step would be to appeal to the DuPage County Regional Office of Education.

“The regional office has the authority to override LADSE, and then the next step would be to get approval from the Illinois State Board of Education,” Sabatino said.
District 181 School Board President Linda Rio Reichmann said the district will have to demonstrate it can provide the services itself.

“If we were to move forward after looking at all of our options, we would have to prove to ISBE we can, as a district, provide all the services currently supplied by LADSE,” Reichmann said.

“No one has ever withdrawn from LADSE, so I have no idea how the rest of the LADSE board would vote,” Sabatino said.

He said there has been a recent trend for public school districts in similar cooperatives in Illinois and other states to withdraw and provide their own services.