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MSD considers parting ways with SOESD Sunday Oct 16, 2016 at 7:06 PM Oct 18, 2016 at 1:44 PM Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune @teresathomas_MT Medford School District officials believe they can save up to $500,000 a year by withdrawing from the Southern Oregon Education Service District. Chief Operations Officer Brad Earl informed the Medford School Board during a work session last Monday that, based on a preliminary analysis, the district would have about $2 million in excess funds available if it were to withdraw from the SOESD and provide services in-house. If the district decides to go down that road, it has until Nov. 1 to give the SOESD notice of its intent to withdraw and until March 1 to issue a notice of withdrawal, effective July 1, per Oregon Revised Statute 334.015. The SOESD currently provides special education, school improvement and network and information technology services to 13 districts in Jackson, Josephine and Klamath counties, many of which could not afford those services independently. (The Grants Pass School District withdrew from the SOESD in 2014 but continues to buy back some of their services.) The SOESD receives funding from the State School Fund based on the population of the districts it serves. Medford represents about 27.61 percent of the total population of those districts and, therefore, nearly 30 percent of that revenue stream, said SOESD Superintendent Scott Beveridge. The State School Fund money accounts for about 40 percent of the SOESD’s total budget of about $49 million, while grants, contracts and other revenue streams make up the rest, he said. If the Medford School District were to withdraw from the SOESD, the agency would be responsible for passing 90 percent — roughly $4.5 million — of those State School funds through to the district. The district would then have the option of providing those services itself or coming to an agreement with SOESD to buy back services with a surcharge. Medford schools Superintendent Brian Shumate said the district is looking at efficiencies in all areas and has recently discovered ways to save on energy, workers compensation and medical expenses. “Now we’re looking critically at all the services we receive from the ESD,” he said. If the board votes at the Nov. 1 meeting to issue a letter of intent to withdraw, it would basically buy the district time to “assess the value of our financial relationship with the ESD,” he added. Shumate said the question district officials are trying to answer is, “Do we have enough savings on all the other things to justify paying a surcharge on a few small things?” The SOESD currently operates as a split model, in which districts can choose from a menu of special education services or receive cash in lieu of services. However, for all other services, it does not provide a menu option, so districts can either utilize those services or forfeit the money, Earl said. “We’ve been taking services from them because they are available, but they are not necessarily top priority for the school district so many of those services we would not replicate,” he said. “The hardship on us will be in the special education area because we’ve already brought most of the services in house that we think we can provide better, and the remaining services will take more thoughtful preparation,” he said. Several years ago the district began buying fewer spots in the SOESD's Specialized Training in Educational Program Services (STEPS), which serves students with severe disabilities, and instead served some of those students through its Multi Age Positive Supports (MAPS) program, which serves students with learning, cognitive and communication delays, said Tania Tong, director of special education and student services. Five years ago, there were 105 students participating in the STEPS program, and now there are only 14, she said. “The money that was originally flowing to ESD to provide services then came directly to the Medford School District,” Tong said. “We used that to open (MAPS) classrooms and had extra money … to hire additional staff including, a psychologist, speech pathologist and additional classified support.” However, the district continues to utilize the SOESD’s sign language interpreters and vision, Braille and other specialists, as well as additional supports, for a total of about $1.8 million. If the district does withdraw, it would continue to buy back some special education services for the next few years until it could become self-sufficient in that area, Earl said. Earl projected that the district would purchase about $1.7 million in special education services in 2017-18, $783,926 in 2018-19 and $63,612 in 2019-20. SOESD officials presented a detailed service report to the board at the Sept. 12 work session and reminded the board that the district currently receives about 30 percent more in funding and services than it would if it were to withdraw. “The 30 percent results, in part, from the significant amount of grants and contracts that the SOESD receives above and beyond the State School Fund,” Beveridge said. “Many of the grants and funding we receive beyond the State School Fund … are either not available to the district or are a challenge for districts to obtain on their own,” he added. At the most recent work session, board members expressed a desire to know more about how some of these grants, including the Career and Technical Education Revitalization grant that the SOESD secured for the district earlier this year, would be impacted by withdrawing from the SOESD. The one area of services that the district has historically underutilized is electronic services, Beveridge said. But, this year, SOESD adjusted the hours of it electricians to meet the needs of the district. “We understand from the Medford School District that we saved them $80,000 in fees that they were planning to pay to other providers by them leveraging our services instead,” Beveridge said. “Our reports show that (since July 1) they’ve used over $100,000 in services and are on track to exceed their allocation in this area this year, and they currently have 100 requests in our help desk cue, representing 30 percent of the overall requests we have.” The SOESD also provides migrant, English Language Learner (ELL), Indian, school improvement, career and technical education, media and courier, electronic, interactive video conferencing, and network services for the district. Beveridge said it was too early to say what impact the Medford School District withdrawing would have on the agency. Since 2013, two districts have given the SOESD letters of intent to withdraw, but only one of those, Grants Pass, followed through with it. Nonetheless, the Grants Pass School District continues to buy back services. In 2013-14, the Grants Pass School District was accessing about $800,000 worth of programs and resources as a member of SOESD. In 2014-15, after it withdrew, it projected that it would buy back about $755,000 in services from the SOESD, Beveridge said. Until the SOESD knows what Medford’s intentions are, Beveridge was not sure what the impact on the agency and its 251 employees would be. “Adjustments in budget reductions can come in a variety of ways that don’t always impact the number of staff, such as other reduced program costs, replacement with other funding sources, and the potential to not fill unfilled positions,” he said. Beveridge said the district has about four months after issuing a letter of intent to do its due diligence and complete a thorough analysis of SOESD services. “The SOESD is focused on doing what’s best for students and families in our community, and we believe that the services we provide to Medford far outweigh the reduced amount of funding available to the district if they were to withdraw,” he said. Reach education reporter Teresa Thomas at 541-776-4497 or [email protected]. Follow her at www.twitter.com/teresathomas_mt. Corrections: The date of the next board meeting and the full name of SOESD have been corrected from previous version.