The Cumberland County Board of Education approved more than $7.3 million in contracts and purchase agreements tied to exceptional children’s services, authorizing a new round of outside service agreements for the 2026-27 school year as the district continues grappling with staffing shortages in specialized student support positions.
The funding package, which the board approved on June 9, covers agreements with outside staffing agencies, therapy providers, evaluation specialists, and instructional support vendors that district officials said are necessary to ensure students with disabilities continue receiving federally required special education services.
The latest approvals come after district leaders spent much of the current school year expanding contracted services for its Exceptional Children’s Services to address staffing shortages.
In January, board members approved approximately $1.3 million in additional funding for three existing providers, followed by another $4.09 million contract increase approved in April.
The latest spending also comes as Cumberland County Schools faces increasing scrutiny over its special education practices. Earlier this year, a federal lawsuit and state complaint alleged the district improperly delayed special education evaluations for some students, while separate recent state findings concluded the district failed to consistently implement accommodations required under at least one student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP).
District officials previously said those mid-year increases were necessary to address staffing shortages, complete required student evaluations, and ensure students continue receiving services outlined in IEPs. A legally required plan, IEPs outline special education services, accommodations, and learning goals for a student with a qualifying disability.
The newly approved June contracts will take effect July 1.
What the $7.3 Million Funds
The June 9 approvals cover eight exceptional children’s service contracts and instructional support agreements for the upcoming 2026-27 school year:
• AMN Healthcare, approved for $3.045 million, renewing a one-year contract providing speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and related clinical staffing services based on student IEP needs.
• Soliant Health, approved for $1.833 million, renewing contracted therapy and related support services including speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, sign language interpretation, and behavior support.
• Refine Communication Solutions, approved for $930,000, renewing speech-language pathology services including student evaluations and both in-person and virtual therapy support.
• Equalize Sensory Services, approved for $750,000, renewing specialized support services for visually impaired and hearing impaired students receiving exceptional children’s services.
• Let’s Go Learn, approved for $241,800, providing academic progress monitoring and instructional tools supporting approximately 3,200 students needing exceptional children’s services.
• Everway, approved for $209,274, renewing curriculum materials and instructional resources supporting approximately 90 extension classrooms districtwide.
• Quinn Assessment Services, approved for $180,000, establishing a new one-year contract providing psychoeducational assessments used to determine student disability eligibility.
• Aya Healthcare, approved for $127,500, providing contracted occupational therapy staffing and related healthcare support services based on district staffing needs.
How Much Are Contractors Being Paid?
The agreements the board approved included a detailed look at the billing rates and fee structures the school district pays as it continues relying on outside vendors to support exceptional children’s services amid ongoing staffing shortages.
Under its agreement with AMN Healthcare, district documents show billing rates vary depending on specialty. The contract lists speech-language pathologists between $80 and $105 per hour, occupational therapists and physical therapists between $80 and $95 per hour, registered nurses between $80 and $110 per hour, and both school psychologists and behavioral analysts between $95 and $120 per hour.
The Aya Healthcare contract, approved for $127,500, includes an occupational therapist assignment scheduled for 37.5 hours per week at a billing rate of $85 per hour, according to contract documents.
Documents attached to the Soliant Health agreement show the school district contracting multiple specialists at varying hourly rates depending on assignment type. The contract documents list occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and speech-language pathology assistant assignments ranging from $63 to $90 per hour, with both in-person and teletherapy services included.
Meanwhile, the district’s $930,000 contract with Refine Communication Solutions shows speech-language services billed at $85 per hour, with the agreement including approximately 880 service hours per month and a combination of both in-person and virtual speech-language pathology services.
Contract documents for Equalize Sensory Services show the district paying varying rates for specialized support staff serving students with sensory disabilities, including $90 per hour for in-person teacher-of-the-visually-impaired services, $82 per hour for virtual instruction and deaf or hard of hearing support, sign language interpreter rates ranging from $60 to $65 per hour, and paraprofessional support billed at $36 per hour, according to district cost projections attached to the agreement.
Documents for the Quinn Assessment Services agreement show the school district paying on a per-assessment basis rather than hourly staffing rates. Contract documents list cognitive assessments at $450, educational assessments at $50 per subtest, adaptive, behavioral and autism rating scales at $85 each, and both motor and speech screenings at $10 per screening, with pricing also covering required ECATS documentation.
‘This Is a Lot of Money’
The contracts were first presented to board members during the school board’s Student Support Services Committee meeting on May 28. During the meeting, board members raised questions about the scale of spending and the district’s continuing staffing challenges.
Board member Jackie Warner questioned whether district leaders could calculate a per-student cost for exceptional children’s services, arguing the public often does not fully understand how much additional funding is required beyond standard per-pupil spending.
“I think what we need to show is that this is a lot of money for extra outside services that are not covered in what we would call our general money,” Warner said during the committee discussion.
Ayanna Richard, then the executive director of Exceptional Children’s Services, said calculating a uniform per-student cost is difficult as service needs vary significantly depending on each student’s disability and individualized education plan. Richard has since been named principal of A.B. Wilkins High School, one of several principal changes announced Monday.
“It’s challenging to give a per pupil expenditure because every child as far as exceptional ed is going to get different things,” Richard said. “So our students who receive services in deaf or hard of hearing, their per pupil service is going to be extraordinary.”
Board member Terra Jordan later asked whether the department had finally secured enough staffing to address shortages in critical service areas, including occupational therapy, physical therapy, and school psychology.
Richard said the district has made progress but continues experiencing shortages in some specialized positions.
“We’re in a much better place. Psychology I think we’ve got covered. We’ve got occupational therapy covered,” Richard said. “We are still in need of a couple of more physical therapists.”
Richard said district staff members have also been working extended schedules this summer to help address evaluation backlogs.
“We have been utilizing our psychologists for summer as well as on Saturdays here recently,” Richard said. “We’ve got five summer teams that are set up to do eligibilities as well as the psychologists are going to be working.”
But despite the multimillion-dollar investment, district leaders acknowledged staffing gaps remain.
Board member Mary Hales asked whether Cumberland County Schools currently has enough personnel to fully serve all students requiring exceptional children’s services.
Richard’s response was brief.
“We do not.”
