The cost of special education services are on the rise in the Old Rochester Regional School District.

Director of Student Services Terri Hamm says it isn’t so unusual, but with more students coming into the special education program whose needs cannot be met locally, Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester are scrambling to find the money.

In the Old Rochester Regional district, services for students who can be served by the district are paid for as part of the school budgets.

However, individual towns pay the bill for those students who must be sent to out-of-town facilities, at an annual cost of $75,000 to $130,000 per student.

Under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, all schools in the U.S. are obligated to pay for any and all services deemed necessary for physically or mentally handicapped students until they are 22 years old.

The district plans for special education costs each year, but Hamm said there is no way of knowing if more students will be in need of services after the budget is approved in May.

Additional costs to special education services come in one of two ways.

The first being that the number of students in need of services increases sometime during the school year.

The second depends on whether that student can be serviced by the local schools. If not, the district has to find specialized programs for students outside of the district.

Hamm says 96 percent of the students in the district that are in need of special education programs are serviced locally, whereas four percent of the students have needs that exceed what the schools are able to provide locally.

If a student is serviced locally, the costs for those services are included in the budget. This is because the district has counselors, paraprofessionals and speech therapists on staff to work with students in the program.

Marion Town Administrator Paul Dawson told the Board of Selectmen January 17 that the town may have four students needing out-of-district services next year.

Out-of-district placements run an average of $100,000 per student Dawson said. The costs can vary between $75,000 and $130,000 depending on the student.

These placements can also cost more.

“We aren’t billed for special education or counseling,” she said. “We are billed for tuition costs and what it costs them to run the program. We may also be billed for transportation.”

The towns are now individually responsible for financing student services until he or she reaches the age of 22.

At the January 19 joint meeting, Rochester School Committee member Sharon Hartley suggested the towns combine their individual budgets with the district budget.

This way, she said, all of the towns would cover the cost when the need for additional special education services comes up.

Hamm said the district has  overestimated the costs for services in the past. These remaining funds were redistributed to the three towns.

“This is a good thing, because we know there will be years like this one—when more funds will be needed,” Hamm said.

Mattapoisett Town Administrator Mike Gagne said it was these funds that helped the town create a reserve in case the cost of services went up.

“When you have these special education costs, they can be a sufficient financial liability that you have to deal with that doesn’t always remain the same every year,” Gagne said. “We had this happen to us three years ago, and the Selectmen decided to earmark $120,000 into an account.”

The “Special Education Expense Stabilization Fund” was approved last May during Town Meeting.

In the November Town Meeting, $60,000 was transferred into the account. Gagne said he and the Board of Selectmen hope to put an additional $60,000 in the fund within the next year.

“When you have these expenses, you can moderate the impact on the budget,” Gagne said.

On January 5, Rochester School Committee Chair Tina Rood said the first draft of the school budget for 2013 calls for an increase of $120,000 in special education services.

Rochester Town Administrator Richard LaCamera asked that all of the town’s boards and committees keep next year’s budgets the same as in 2012.

Even this, LaCamera said isn’t enough.

On January 23, LaCamera said the town would have to make cuts in services, programs and staff to balance the town’s overall budget.

“Rochester is going to have to find additional support or make other cuts to offset their costs,” Hamm said.  “It’s concerning. The budget items are very lean, so we would have to find the money elsewhere.”

Superintendent Doug White told the Marion School Committee on January 4 that the costs of special education services in 2013 would be increasing from close to $308,000 to nearly $407,500 due to out-of-district placements.

Marion School Committee member Jay Pateakos said the district has always maintained “incredible service” with his son, Alex, at the Sippican School.

Alex, who is in the second grade, has Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1, a neuromuscular disease that affects the ability of the brain to communicate with the muscles.

“It’s tough for many people to grasp the essentials behind special education,” Pateakos said. “When I was a reporter in other parts of the state, people would complain to me about special education costs, and why towns and cities spend so much money on kids that won’t turn out to be doctors or lawyers—not knowing that I had a special education kid. Sure, my kid may not have the future many kids might, but it’s not up to us who gets educated. All kids, gifted or disabled, deserve an education and that’s what school districts are doing.”

Hamm said the district would make sure the students receive the best education possible.

“If the children need that service, I don’t want the parents to worry,” Hamm said. “If they need those services, we will absolutely provide that for them.”