Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut told school districts this week they would get a significant reduction in state aid for special education costs, leaving many worried about their students and local taxpayers.

Several local school leaders interviewed Friday said that because they have no discretion over special education costs, they will have to consider asking taxpayers to cover this loss of state aid or discuss eliminating teaching and paraprofessional positions and enrichment programs like art and music.

“The state’s responsibility for education funding is suffering overall,” said Sydney Leggett, superintendent of the Plainfield and Cornish school districts. “Small districts and rural areas are feeling this, and taxpayers are feeling it very hard. This is just another blow to local taxpayers, who will have to shoulder the burden themselves for something that is actually the state’s responsibility.

Under Edelblut’s plan, the state would cover 67.5% of its share of special education aid in 2025, up from 87% this year and 98.3% in 2023. A school district that would have received $100,000 for a student, for example, would see that drop from $33,000 to about $67,000, under the change, Edelblut said in an interview Friday.

Edelblut pointed to an increase in the number of students eligible for special education services and an increase in the costs of those services. The number of students is up 12% from last year, to 870; 48 are new because the state must now cover the costs for people up to 22 years old, one year more than before.

Costs per student increased 9.3% from last year, from about $128,000 to about $140,000, he said.

These 870 students represent a portion of all special education students in the state. Under the state’s complex funding formula, local school districts are responsible for about $70,000 of a student’s special education costs, a cap that includes most special education students. The state contributes to costs beyond this amount.

Meanwhile, Edelblut has kept the state’s budget for special education aid at $33.9 million since 2021. As of Oct. 1, school districts had already submitted reimbursement requests totaling nearly 50 million dollars, he said.

Kendra Cohen has been president of the Deerfield school board for a year and a half. She recalled how difficult it was to pass a budget last year due to a $1.2 million increase in the district’s special education costs.

These expenses can include speech and occupational therapists, costly out-of-district placements, and transportation costs to these sites. Cohen noted that the state already requires local school districts to cover a significant portion of their special education costs.

“We’re in the middle of budget discussions right now and we’re going to have to discuss whether we keep the same roster of professionals,” Cohen said. “Should we keep education as it is and ask taxpayers to explain to them for the second year in a row that our budget increase is due to special education?

“It’s incredibly difficult to get people to agree that (special education) is important, not even if we’re mandated to provide it, but rather that as a community it should be a priority,” Cohen said.

Jane Bergeron-Beaulieu, executive director of the New Hampshire Association of Special Education Administrators, said Friday that her nearly 300 members were still digesting Edelblut’s letter. That left her thinking about public schools and her taxpayers.

“We can see both sides of the coin,” she said. “We know that nationally and in New Hampshire we do not have adequate funding for our schools but, more importantly, for special education.”

Bergeron-Beualieu said the increased costs are due to factors beyond districts’ control, including students with more complex needs and staffing shortages that force districts to turn to more expensive private contractors.

Edelblut did not call for increasing its funding for special education aid during his preliminary budget presentation to lawmakers this week and would not say whether he intended to do so once that the governor and the Legislature will have started formalizing the next biennial budget early next year. He noted that he had requested an increase in the 2017 and 2018 budgets, from about $22 million to $30 million.

Instead, Edelblut wants the state to examine whether it can provide special education services more efficiently and at a lower cost. He said parents and educators often tell him they are unhappy with the services provided.

Edelblut said he doesn’t have a solution, but he thinks school vouchers through Education Freedom Accounts could be an answer.

“Families come to us all the time saying their child has completed (a special education program) in school and they don’t need services when they get out,” Edelblut said. “They no longer suffer from anxiety and depression. »

According to the Ministry of Education, 377 students benefiting from the voucher program were receiving special education services in schools. The department does not track the changing needs of these students, but Edelblut said his conversations with families have convinced him that they are succeeding without special education services.