School Finance and District Support

FY17 Special Education Circuit Breaker Extraordinary Relief Claims

To:	Superintendents, Charter School Leaders, Special Education Directors, School Business Officials
From:	John J. Sullivan, Associate Commissioner, District & School Finance
Date:	January 23, 2017

The Special Education Circuit Breaker program includes a provision that allows districts to claim for extraordinary relief when claimable Special Education costs exceed 125% of the previous year's claimed costs. The purpose of this memorandum is to outline the extraordinary relief claim process for FY'17. We were hopeful that we would be able to transition this process to a web based claim, but that has proven to be very challenging. As a result, we will not be changing the claim process in the near future.

Districts considering claiming for relief this fiscal year should send an email to circuitbreaker@doe.mass.edu expressing their intent to claim by Tuesday, February 28, 2017. After receiving this information we will create district specific claim files and make them available to school officials. These relief claim files will be in the same format as previous years and relief claims will be due Friday, March 31, 2017.

In addition, we are working to set up a training schedule during March to assist districts intending to file. All districts filing claims for relief are expected to attend a training session. Please be advised that districts filing after March 31 are not guaranteed consideration for relief.

I appreciate your assistance in the implementation of the Circuit Breaker program.

Last Updated: January 23, 2017