CLAREMONT — A special school district meeting Thursday night seeks voter approval to establish a special education expendable trust fund and appropriate $650,000 to the fund for new and expanded special education programming.
The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Stevens High School auditorium, where voters will consider one article on the warrant.
The appropriation will not come from taxes but instead from unanticipated revenues contained in the state budget approved in July. According to the School Board, Claremont has received an additional $1.3 million for the current fiscal year and the district has to decide how to spend it before Dec. 1. The board is proposing half go to the special education trust fund and the other $650,000 go to lessen property taxes for the coming year.
Superintendent Mike Tempesta explained the three programs the administration plans to fund with the money.
The first proposal for the money is to expand the PRIDE (persons receiving interim diversionary education) program at the elementary level with the goal of educating more special needs students in Claremont instead of sending them out of district at a higher cost.
PRIDE was started this school year and serves three students. Tempesta estimated the cost of a second classroom at $182,000.
A second program is for autistic students. Tempesta said in this school year there are three students who may have to be sent out of district at a cost of $270,000, which would bring the total number of out-of-district autism students to nine. With a new program, all of those students could be kept in Claremont, saving about $300,000.
The third program is a program at the high school for dropout prevention and credit recovery that could serve as many as 30 students. If it is successful, the district could serve other area districts and create a revenue stream.
The superintendent also said the PRIDE program could be expanded to other school districts and provide revenue to Claremont.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
