XII. SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM:  RELATED SERVICES

            Related services must be provided to students with a disability in accordance with the individualized education program (IEP) developed by the Committee on Special Education.  There are a number of related services which may be provided for a student.  Some, like counseling and physical and occupational therapy, are frequently a part of many students' IEPs.  Others, like audiology or a one-to-one aide, are likely to be found only in the IEPs of students with a particular disability.  The related services reported are the more common ones.  In the first two years of this report, eleven categories were reported.  Five types which were reported by less than a third of the BOCES have been deleted.

            Most BOCES charge for related services on the basis of an hourly rate per student, whether students are served individually or in a group.  Some have a separate rate when students are served in a group.  Either method is appropriate.

            Some BOCES did not charge on an individual or a group rate; the related services which are commonly provided to most students within a program were included in the tuition.  For purposes of this report the related service costs were separated and an hourly rate was calculated.  The total number of hours in a day in which service is provided varies among BOCES in the same way that the length of the school day varies among districts.  For example, some one-to-one aides work a five-hour day because the child with whom they are working attends class for five hours.  Others may work a six and a half-hour day because that is the schedule of the student whom they are assisting.  Salary rates are also differentiated based on hours of employment.  The total number of weeks in the school year also varies slightly.  Therefore, some differences in costs among BOCES are attributable to the different ways in which an hourly rate is calculated.

            The same regional factors affecting variations in costs in career and technical education and special education are present in costs for related services:  regional cost differences in salaries; utilities and contractual services; differences in budgeting, telephone, postage, insurance and the like; and center-based program versus district-based program costs.  Thus, care should be taken judging one BOCES to be more cost efficient than other.