Education Funding CommissionPresentation

ToSubcommittee Number 3By Residential Treatment

FacilitiesSeptember 2012

WHO ARE WE?

Georgia facilities which provide comprehensive behavioral health services to children and adolescents

– Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities ("PRTF")

– Room Board and Watchful Oversight ("RBWO")

WHO ARE WE?(Cont.)

In addition to behavioral health services, we provide:– Housing – Educational needs

• Children receive education in our facilities because they cannot be served in local schools

• They receive instruction in nationally accredited schools or programs

– Social skills and independent living skills

LOCATED STATEWIDE• There are 20 residential treatment facilities

SCHOOL DISTRICT RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FACILITY 1.Appling County School District AMIKids Baxley Wilderness f/k/a Baxley Wilderness Institute 2. Atlanta Public School District Hillside, Inc. (Conant School) 3. Bibb County School District *Twin Cedars Youth Services/Georgia Industrial Children’s Home 4. Bibb County School District The Methodist Home for Children and Youth – Price Educational Center 5. Bibb County School District Macon Behavior Health System 6. Bleckley County School District AMIKids Middle GA(Middle Georgia Wilderness Institute 7. Carroll County School District KidsPeace National Centers of Georgia 8. Chatham County School District Coastal Harbor Treatment Center (UHS of Savannah, LLC) 9. Cobb County School District Devereux Georgia Treatment Network 10. DeKalb County School District UHS of Laurel Heights 11. Douglas County School District Youth Villages Inner Harbor Campus 12. Dublin City Schools Community Hope Center, INC 13. Fulton County School District Georgia Baptist Children's Home – AMEC/Palmetto Campus 14. Glynn County School District Morning Star Youth Estate Center – Morningstar Children and Family

Services. 15. Marietta City Schools Nelson Price Treatment Center 16. Marietta City Schools George W. Hartmann Center 17. Meriwether County School District Good Shepherd Therapeutic Center 18. Muscogee County School District *Anne Elizabeth Shepherd Home – Twin Cedars Youth Services, INC 19. Polk County School District Murphy-Harpst Children Center, INC 20. Richmond County School District Lighthouse Care Center of Augusta 21. Taylor County School District Georgia Center for Youth 22. Troup County School District Bradfield Center -Ault Academy – Twin Cedars Youth Services, INC

GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 2011-2012 Approved Residential Facilities Served Under O.C.G.A 20-2-133 *These Residential Treatment Facilities are served as “programs”.

Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent September 15, 2011 * Page 1 of 1

WHO WE SERVE?• Children in state custody– Department of Human

Services (Division of Family and Children Services)

– Department of Juvenile Justice

– Privately placed children• Annually, facilities serve– RBWO - – PRTF -

AVERAGE LENGTHS OF STAY

–Children and adolescents are in PRTF an average of 120 days

–RBWO children have an average lengths of stay of ___

TYPES OF CHILDREN• Children who are neglected,

unruly, delinquent or have behavioral health issues

• Children who have numerous foster care family placements prior to their placement with a facility

• Varying ages by facility, up to age 21 for some

• Children with numerous learning issues, generally two grades behind their peers

HOW ARE WE CURRENTLY FUNDED?

• Through "QBE" with money paid to "LEAs"

• Through a non-quality basic education formula grant, "SB 618 grant"

• Title I dollars• Private donations

WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS?• Residential treatment facilities are not funded

sufficiently to meet educational instruction costs of children

• Facilities do not have their own "QBE" weight• Children do not always arrive with an "IEP"• SB 618 grants are not sufficient to fund a the local

share of the total cost of education and can be cut at any time

• SB 618 grants are not based on actual costs, and formula is not transparent and has changed annually

• Student counts occur twice per year and do not capture transient nature of students

OUR IDEAS FOR SOLUTIONS:• Create a new category and appropriate weight

in "QBE" to more closely align with these children's needs

• Address "IEP" requirement so that a determination of a child's need for placement in a residential treatment facility equates to an IEP

• Sufficiently fund SB 618 "grants" program to cover the full local share of the cost of education

*DOE proposed moving facilities to the "SED" program budget category, but programs in this category are not eligible for Title I and the level of funding could remain inadeqaute