The Center Avenue Community School has increased out-of-district attendance for this school year, with nine students coming from districts other than Butler.

These enrollments will bring the Butler district more than $200,000 in tuition to help pay for staff and other resources, according to Deborah Brandstetter, director of the district’s business services.

The school opened as an alternative education and emotional support school for the 2015-16 school year, after the Butler School District consolidated in the summer of 2015.

The school is split into two programs — the emotional support program and the alternative education program.

The emotional support program, which accepts students who have an Individualized Education Program for emotional or behavioral problems, can support 48 students, with eight students per classroom. Each classroom is staffed by a teacher and a paraprofessional, according to Aaron Royhab, supervisor of special education at Butler.

The school can accommodate 60 students in the alternative education program, a state-approved Alternative Education for Disruptive Youth program.

Students in that program must meet one of the seven criteria outlined by the state Department of Education for a disruptive student, Royhab said. These students may not have an Individualized Education Program, he said.

The alternative education program is not open to outside districts, Royhab said, but he expects that a discussion about changing that may come up one day.

It’s not the building’s size that limits the school’s enrollment, but rather the available staffing, Royhab said.

Last year, Center Avenue at one point had at least three students from outside of the district in the emotional support program.

Now, there are nine students from outside of the district, Royhab said, but enrollment numbers for this program ebb and flow.

“We have at least one or two students from each school district in the county,” he said. “But it varies, students move, come in and come out.”

There’s even a waiting list with six out-of-district students, Royhab said.

Royhab said the arrangement is beneficial not only for Butler students but for the students from other districts as well.

“(The Center Avenue Community School) also allowed us to bring back more of our own students from other placements, bringing them closer to home. They’re in a neighborhood school instead of transported an hour away,” he said.

Royhab could not say specifically if the increase in enrollment is related to the closing of Clarence C. Brown Education Center, a school that was run by the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV as an emotional support and life skills program. The school closed after graduation in June and on Wednesday was sold with court approval.

“(Clarence Brown closing) might have been an impact, but this has always been a need, with or without that piece,” Royhab said. “Even if that program still operated, we have enough students of our own that we could operate.”

Each student from outside the district pays $23,500 in tuition, which helps cover some of the staffing costs at Center Avenue.

“(The tuition) definitely helps us maintain our staff,” he said. “However, it’s a reasonable cost when compared to other, similar facilities.”

For comparison, Clarence Brown’s tuition for its final year, 2015-16, was $38,500, according to Melissa Wyllie, director of special education with the MIU IV.

With nine students from outside the district, Center Avenue will bring in $211,500 to the district.

Seneca Valley, South Butler, Karns City, Mars and Moniteau school districts each have one student attending Center Avenue. Slippery Rock School District has four students attending.