PENDLETON -- The South Madison Community Schools board of trustees voted unanimously Thursday to join a new cooperative to provide special education programming for district special needs students.
South Madison will transition from Hancock Madison Shelby Education Services, to Hamilton-Boone-Madison Special Service cooperative beginning July 1, 2017, under the agreement approved by the school board.
Hancock Madison Shelby Education Services was established in 1973 to help small school districts like South Madison defray the costs associated with educating special needs students. South Madison was one of the cooperative's original members.
In December 2014, however, Greenfield-Central Schools officials announced plans to withdraw from the partnership, saying they wanted more control over special education staff and programming, according to the Daily Reporter in Greenfield.
Last November, the Mount Vernon School Corp. decided to withdraw from the cooperative as well.
As a result, the cooperative decided to dissolve, which meant South Madison and at least two other Hancock County school districts would need to bring their own special needs programs completely in-house, or find another cooperative with which to share expenses. South Madison officials chose the latter.
"We've been kept in the loop. I think it's going to be a great program and move us forward," said board President Bill Hutton. "We have one of the best programs in the state and now it's going to get better."