By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Russell school district is hoping to become a part of the West Central Kansas Special Education Cooperative by the 2024-25 school year.
Hays, Ellis, Victoria and La Crosse are already members of the co-op.
The Hays school board heard a presentation from Kyle Carlin, co-op director, about the proposal on Monday night.
Russell already has a contract with the co-op for gifted services.
Russell, with a student body of about 800, is one of the smaller school districts to provide its own special education services, Carlin said. Russell has been trying to align itself with a larger special education organization for many years.
The program outlined Monday would bring Russell into the West Central Kansas co-op slowly.
All five school boards would have to agree on adding Russell to the co-op. Carlin said he hoped those votes would happen this spring.
Carlin said he hopes most special education students would continue to be served in their home schools in Russell.
The districts also hope to devise an agreement that would hold harmless Russell's special education staff.
The staff would preserve their years of service as Russell's services transfer to the co-op. Those employees would also be able to retain their current compensation and benefits, Carlin said.
The Russell district would agree to pay a buy-in fee of $250 per staff member and $5 per student. It would also agree to cover any additional costs of compensation and benefits to staff that the co-op would encumber as part of the transition.
Russell will also provide a payment equal to the average carryover over for its special education department for the last five years.
Including Russell in the co-op would decrease the percentage that each member school district would pay of the co-op cost. If the Russell school district were a part of the co-op for the 2022 school year, Carlin estimated Hays' contribution would drop from 77 percent to 65 percent or by about $23,000.
The Hays school district is still facing a likely increase in its contribution to the co-op, Carlin said, because the Kansas Legislature is planning to decrease its contribution during the next two years.
The agreement would also include a $250,000 hardship fee that would be paid if one party decided to withdraw from the agreement. This protects both parties in the event of a leadership change at the administrative or school board levels.
If both parties agree to dissolve the agreement, no fee would be assessed. If the agreement can't be enacted because of something outside of the control of either party, the fee will not be assessed.
By next spring, Carlin said he hopes to have an updated co-op agreement ready. The current co-op agreement has not been updated since the 1980s. That agreement would also have to be approved by all five school boards, as well as the Kansas Department of Education and the Kansas Board of Education.
"I think it will add to our special ed co-op and keep it going and strong," Hays school board vice president Craig Pallister said.