Berrien County public school districts will pick up a share of nearly $4.2-million in reimbursements from Berrien RESA this year as determined by a formula related to the special education budget.
The Berrien Regional Education Service Agency’s (Berrien RESA) Board of Education has authorized the reimbursement of $4,149,165 in special education funds back to local school districts this year. The dollars are determined annually by a county-wide reimbursement formula from the organization’s traditional special education budget.
It has been Berrien RESA’s policy to direct excess special education funding to area public school districts to reimburse a portion of their unfunded special education expenditures from the prior year. The surplus derives from two sources, Fund Equity and Act 18 dollars levied through a county Special Education millage.
Berrien RESA Superintendent Dr. Kevin Ivers says, “Berrien RESA strives to provide the best educational services to area students while at the same time being fiscally responsible.” He adds, “This supplemental revenue will offset each local district’s cost of providing special education programs and services.”
As is his practice, Dr. Ivers was careful to point out that schools cannot expect such allocations to occur every year, saying, “While I cannot guarantee the future returns, I am pleased that our Board has honored their longstanding policy to return any additional funds that we have back to schools. The districts benefit, the teachers benefit, and most of all, our children benefit.”
