Revised: April 29, 2008

Prompt Notification to Purchasers of Submission of Applications for Program Changes

This policy for notification requirements is intended to give purchasers the requested tuition price and proposed effective date for upcoming price adjustments to enable them to adequately predict and plan for their special education students who are attending private special education programs. Notice of pending price adjustments well in advance of the increase is needed for purchasers to incorporate additional special education costs into their budgets and to explain the increases to their finance committees and departments. This policy ensures adequate notice and a degree of predictability for tuition increase requests for purchasers.

Policy: Private special education programs must provide all purchasers, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Operational Services Division with a notice of intent to apply for a tuition price increase through an application for:

• Program Reconstruction

• Special Circumstances/Salary Upgrades

• New Program Applications submitted by corporations closing existing approved private special education school programs, except for New Program Applications filed at the request of a Massachusetts LEA or state purchasing agency

• Applications for program consolidations

The notice must occur before October 1st of each year for tuition price increases to go into effect the following fiscal year.

Additionally, private special education programs must provide the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education a list of the public school districts in which the program's students currently reside, the number of students from each school district and the annual tuition increase impact on each school district.

Purchasers include:

• Superintendents

• Special Education Administrators

• Executive Branch purchasing departments (a contact list is attached to this document)

This notice must include the type of request, the reasons for the request (special circumstances/salary upgrades, reconstruction, new program or program consolidation), the requested tuition price and the proposed effective date of the increase. The notice must state that the proposed effective date for the increase is the earliest date that the increase will take effect. As indicated above, the earliest that increases will occur for notices issued by October 1st of each year will be July 1 of the following fiscal year.

Department Contact Information
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education	Caryn Goldberg Private Schools Coordinator Program Quality Assurance Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 350 Main St. Malden, MA 02148-5023
Operational Services Division	Monica Synnott Director of Special Education Pricing Operational Services Division One Ashburton Place, Room 1017 Boston, MA 02108
Department of Social Services	Frances Carbone Associate Director of Residential Services Department of Social Services 24 Farnsworth St. Boston, MA 02210
Department of Mental Health	Marion Freedman-Gurspan Director, Policy and Planning, Child Adolescent Div. Department of Mental Health 25 Staniford Street Boston, MA 02114
Department of Youth Services	Sandra Stearns Director of Purchase of Services Department of Youth Services 27 Wormwood St. Suite 400 Boston, MA 02210
Department of Mental Retardation	Dana Roszkiewicz Director, Office of Contract Administration, Accountability, and Systems Dept of Mental Retardation 500 Harrison Ave Boston, Mass 02118
Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission	Jane Buckley Community Services Division Transition Team Supervisor Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission 27 Wormwood St. Suite 600 Boston, MA 02210
Massachusetts Commission for the Blind	Mitch Sanborn Director of the Deaf/Blind/Multi-Handicapped Unit Massachusetts Commission for the Blind 48 Boylston St. Boston, MA 02116-4718