Nahant board postpones action on special ed expenses

NAHANT – The advisory and finance committee unanimously approved using $10,815 of reserve funds to pay for the June 25 special election and approximately $9,100 in unanticipated special education services. But the committee postponed acting on a request to meet a special education cost anticipated for next year, pending the state budget’s release.”There are adequate funds in the (reserve) account ? for the invoices that are outstanding,” said committee chair Joyce Maroney at the committee’s Tuesday night meeting. She said that the reserve fund has approximately $1,500 remaining. She continued that the committee “appreciate the heads up” on the extra costs for next year, but recommended “delaying discussion on (next year’s cost) pending what’s happening at the state level.”This is the second time that the finance committee has used the reserve fund to pay for unanticipated special education costs.Maroney noted that the committee’s May 23 meeting approved $30,000 for what Superintendent Philip Devaux had said were psychological evaluations for two students. At the Tuesday meeting, Devaux said that one of those evaluations had been extended, costing the district an additional $3,435. In addition, a 3-year-old child had started a program two months earlier than the school department had hoped, requiring $5,100 for tuition. The district was able to cover all but $600 for transportation for the two students, he said.But the majority of discussion concerned Devaux’s request for $20,000 in 2012. Committee member Robert Vanderslice presented Devaux with several questions about the impact of the override and much of the debate concerning the request addressed these questions indirectly.Devaux said the district had not anticipated that the student would need the additional services so the state-mandated costs were not in the budget. He also said that approving the request could impact whether the district rehired a part-time aide who was given a pink slip after the override request failed on April 30.But because a grant in the state budget could also impact this decision, the finance committee decided to not discuss the request until the state budget was finalized.