MILTON — The Milton School District may cap the number of special education students its allows in via open-enrollment.
That’s per a presentation made to the school board Monday night by Director of Student Services Julia Garcynski.
“We have not had any limitations so far in Milton,” Garcynski said.
A proposed policy update would come before the board at its next meeting.
Garcynski said the district has seen a rising number of special education students open-enrolling in, straining staff.
In the 2024-25 school year, 445 students in the district were enrolled in special education. Of those, 51 were open-enrolled in, or about 11.5%. Prior to this year, the number of special education students open-enrolled into the district has increased every year since 2019-20, according to the school district.
In 2023-24, there were 451 special education students in the district, of which 53 were open-enrolled into the district.
Of 450 special education students in 2022-23, 40 students were open-enrolled. Of 453 special education students in 2021-22, 32 were open-enrolled.
In 2020-21, of 442 special education students, 31 students were open-enrolled. Of 444 special education students in 2019-20, 24 were open-enrolled.
The district must make changes to the open enrollment policy prior to Feb. 1, when the regular open enrollment window opens.
Garcynski said the district wants to keep students who are currently open-enrolled in.
“We would like to keep them here. We would want to grandfather them in,” Garcynski said.
Under the cap, the recommended caseload ratios for staff per student would be 1:10 for early childhood, 1:10 for cross-categorical elementary and 1:35 for speech and language.
“I am really torn on this subject,” board member Rick Mullen said Monday night. “I understand our staffing challenges, and I know it’s nothing new and it’s getting worse.”
“But, I also think of our stated vision to have opportunities for all. Ratio can be changed in two ways. We can increase staff members or we can decrease student members. I guess, do we have enough staff? Professional staff? Support staff? And, do those staff have the resources they need for the students?”
Garcynski said she looks at staffing projections in the spring to analyze for needs in the following year, similar for classroom teachers to bring forth recommendations for staff to the school board.
“When I make those projections in the spring, I feel confident that with the numbers we have we can meet the needs of students and staff can be successful. Knowing that our evaluations are high and that we have littles, ECers and 4Kers coming out of the woodwork, which is not a Milton problem it’s everywhere right now — and kids are showing up a little bit differently right now than they have been in the past five years, it’s hard to say that we would keep the current ratio that we have now,” Garcynski said.
Garcynski said imposing the cap would be a “hard thing to do.”
“As educators we make decisions with our hearts sometimes and I understand it’s a hard thing for us to think about, turning somebody away potentially. That’s never what our intent is. There’s a balance there. Sometimes we have to make those hard decisions,” Garcynski said.
The school board’s next meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the district office, 448 E. High St., in Milton.
