Facts and figures of special education
Since the inception of Marion County Special Education Cooperative 10 years ago, there have been 124 students who were served in the two programs — OASIS for behavior disorders and CLASS for physical and mental disabilities.
Cooperative director Chris Cezar said of those 124, 44 were out-of-county foster children. Twelve of those students have graduated from high school.
According to statistical information provided by Cezar, the attendance in the 2005-06 school year was as follows:
Marion-Florence provided 31 percent of the total enrollment of special education students, Hillsboro 30 percent, Centre 26 percent, Centre 16 percent, and Goessel three percent.
At any given time, there are 18-20 students on the Florence campus, receiving an education. Throughout the five school districts, there are 453 students being served, said Cezar.
The aging facilities at Florence need to be updated and maintained, said Cezar.
A cost estimate of $650,000 was proposed by an architect's study to make necessary improvements. Among those items are heating and cooling systems, a new circuit board for electrical system, a roof, and an elevator for handicapped accessibility.
If a new facility were built, cost estimates are $100-120 per square foot. Approximately 10,000 square feet would be needed for student use and 5,000 for administrative and office space. The cost would be $1-1.2 million for classroom space and $500,000-$600,000 for administration.
Currently the cooperative is paying Marion-Florence USD 408 $50,000 per year for the facilities. Cezar provided cost estimates, based on $1 million.
Hillsboro would pay an additional $298,000 per year, Marion-Florence $281,000, Peabody-Burns $174,000, Centre $126,000, and Goessel $120,000.
A new facility would probably cost more than $2 million, so each district would be responsible for an additional $600,000 from Hillsboro, $562,000 from Marion-Florence, $348,000 from Peabody-Burns, $252,000 from Centre, and $240,000 from Goessel.