Study of the Mount Diablo Unified School District - Mt. Diablo Unified ...

District Operations and Associated Financial EffectivenessEliminate Office Support DesignatedInstruction and Services, Resource $72,277 $72,277 $72,277 $72,277 $72,277PositionEliminate Office Support SpecialDay Centers and Transportation $73,792 $73,792 $73,792 $73,792 $73,792PositionEliminate Consent Decree SecretaryPosition$66,958 $66,958 $66,958 $66,958 $66,958Eliminate Administrative SecretaryPosition$78,302 $78,302 $78,302 $78,302 $78,302Create Director of Special EducationPosition($132,927) ($132,927) ($132,927) ($132,927) ($132,927)Create Three Program SpecialistsPositions($397,471) ($397,471) ($397,471) ($397,471) ($397,471)Total Cost Savings $326,052 $326,052 $326,052 $326,052 $326,052Issue 2‐5: Resource Support Services.The Department of Pupil Services and Special Education works collaboratively with theDepartment of Curriculum and Instruction to provide academic resource support tostudents who are struggling with the general education curriculum. The model has provento be very successful in alleviating academic deficits for students with and withoutdisabilities. The district and school‐based administration attribute the academic successcenters in the schools and the Resource Teacher positions assigned to those centers as theprimary reason for the decrease in the number of students identified as having a disabilityover the past several years. (Refer to Chapter 4 for discussion on identification of studentswith disabilities.)MGT supports this model as a viable intervention prior to referral for evaluation for specialeducation services. Federal regulations allow districts to use IDEA funds for such earlyintervening services for students without disabilities. Data provided by the Departmentindicate a total of 87.5 resource support teacher positions with an average caseload of 28students with and without disabilities. While the positions are funded with specialeducation allocation, the resource support teacher positions assigned to the schoolsprovide academic support to approximately 1,047 students (calculated using teachercaseloads for June 2009). This equates to 37 positions that are funded with specialeducation funds that are being utilized for early intervening services for students withoutdisabilities.Given the budget deficit facing the district, the administration must carefully review theresource support teacher positions in the district and associated costs. The district mayconsider reducing the number of resource teacher positions or cost‐sharing the positionsbetween general education and special education funds.MGT of America, Inc. Page 2‐20