Special ed co-op schools will leave by July 1

BY MALINDA OSBORNE SVN REPORTER mosborne@svnmail.com DIXON - Amboy and Steward Elementary school districts plan to withdraw from the Lee County Special Education Cooperative. Both districts submitted letters at the co-op's meeting Tuesday night, indicating their intent to leave by July 1, 2008. The Regional Board of School Trustees must have a hearing within 90 days to determine if the districts can withdraw, based on the impact such a move would have on the districts and the co-op itself, said Lee/Ogle Regional Office of Education Superintendent Amy Jo Clemens. Last month, the Dixon School District decided against forming its own program and agreed to remain with the co-op, once it learned other member school districts were not interested in joining a new agency. Talk of reorganizing, though, prompted Amboy, Ashton-Franklin Center and Steward school districts to explore their own options, hoping to find a way to provide special ed services at a lower cost. The other members are the Nelson and Paw Paw school districts. AFC has not submitted a letter of intent to withdraw from the co-op, which provides occupational, physical and speech therapy services for people 3 to 22. With the exception of an Amboy preschool, the co-op essentially is maintained within Dixon schools. Eight of the nine special ed classes are based there, and most of the co-op's 73 students are from Dixon. Dixon decided last year to see if it could find a way to save money, either through a change in the way it pays the co-op, or by pulling out and forming its own program, and charging other districts to use its services. The co-op now bills districts by their enrollment, rather than for each service rendered to individual students. That way, if a school happens to have a large number of special ed students using the co-op's services one year, its payment remains somewhat steady. Reach Malinda Osborne at (815) 284-2222 or (800) 798-4085, ext. 526.