COUNTY SCHOOLS OFFICE

Janet Voeks

OPERATING AUTHORITY AND PURPOSE

Wisconsin Chapter 115 permits a County Board to establish a special education program for school districts in the County and to create a Children With Disabilities Education Board (CDEB). The CDEB provides services for children with hearing impairments, vision impairments, cognitive disabilities, learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disturbance, physical impairments, orthopedic impairments, other health impairments, traumatic brain injury and speech and language impairments. Related services, including physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing services, and transportation, are also provided.

The County School Office is the administrative office of the Racine County Children With Disabilities Education Board. Special education teachers of all categories of impairments, as well as teacher aides, social workers, school psychologists, and program support teachers, are employed through the County School Office and are assigned to special education services in each of the eleven school districts operating west of Interstate 94 in Racine County.
 

ACHIEVEMENT OF PERFORMANCE GOALS

One goal for 2001 was to provide special education and related services to the school districts west of I-94. We achieved this by providing each public school building in our area with at least one half-time special education teacher, as well as other specialists and services as needed by the students.
Another goal was to provide services based on each child's individual education program, if at all possible at the child's regular school. A variety of delivery models were incorporated within and across the districts and made available to children.

2002 GOALS AND BUDGET STRATEGIES

•  Track the number of students receiving special education services by major classification for the last five years and track the staff assigned to each specialty area by major classification for the last five years.
   
•  Expand the use of the satellite administrative offices of the County School Office in each of the three high school areas served by the CDEB.
   
•  Track the usage of the satellite administrative offices in each of the three high school areas and evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the resulting communication.

COUNTY BOARD DIRECTIVE

The County Staff should study savings that could be generated by alternative uses for the County Schools building and report back to the County Handicapped School Board and Finance Committee by June 30, 2002. Until this report is presented to the committees, any capital expenditure in the 2002 budget would require prior approval of the County Handicapped School Board and Finance Committee.