NORWICH – Chenango County’s share of preschool special education programming is costing taxpayers more than anticipated this year, and program coordinators say it’s difficult to project how much more it will take to run the program through the end of 2016.

The county’s preschool special education program provides services for children ages three to five who have a developmental delay or disability. While the child’s school district is responsible for developing an Individualized Education Program (IEP), state law requires that the county Department of Health and the state pick up the tab for services such as: speech, occupational and physical therapy; special education itinerant teacher services; and special class and integrated settings services.

But it’s nearly impossible to predict how much those services will cost annually, and that puts a strain on program administrators, explained county Administrative Services Officer Eric Depperman.

“You just don’t know from month to month how many kids are going to be in this program,” Depperman said, noting that the program grew from 20 students enrolled at the start of the 2015-2016 school year, to 40 students by the end of the year. Children in need of services are referred by the school district where they reside. “As the year builds, we see more and more referrals into the program,” he said.