Built by an Educator, for Special Education Programming

Where every student has a place,
and every district has the tools to create it.

An evidence-based blueprint for building therapeutic programming inside your district. Curriculum, data, staffing, legal foundation, and a real-time tracking platform, all of it included.

$0
Avg. annual savings per student kept in-district
Year 1
When districts begin reducing out-of-placement spend
Evidence based
Built on established, peer-reviewed research
💰  Often fundable through IDEA Part B and existing PD budgets. See how →
The Problem

There's a gap in the continuum, and it's the most expensive gap in special education.

Between a self-contained classroom and an out-of-district placement, most districts have nothing. Teams default to sending students away, at a cost that dwarfs what an in-district alternative would require.

Contact us to learn more →
1
General Education
2
Resource Room
3
Self-Contained Classroom
In-District Therapeutic Program: this is what we build
5
Out-of-District Placement
$80K–$250K+/yr
The Crisis Is Real

Districts are sending students away
at a cost no one can sustain.

$100K+
Average cost of a single
specialized out-of-district placement
$700M
Paid by one state's districts in out-of-district
tuition in a single year
25%+
Of a district's budget can go
to out-of-district placements
~$30K
Cost to serve the same high-need
student in their own district

The gap between what districts spend and what they could spend is the entire business case. Reclaim Education helps close it.

We See You

You’re fighting for every student while watching your budget disappear into placements that shouldn’t be necessary.

😱
“Another IEP team is pushing for OOD.”
You know this student belongs here. You just don’t have the infrastructure to prove it yet.
💷
“We’re spending $800K a year on four students.”
That money could fund three teaching positions. Or a full therapeutic program serving twelve students.
🛒
“I know we could build this. I just don’t know where to start.”
We have built these programs from nothing before, and we hand districts the blueprint so they do not have to guess at the first step.
Let’s solve this together →
The Solution

Everything a district needs to build, launch, and sustain in-district therapeutic programming

The Framework

One-time purchase
The Framework
80+ page implementation manual, the full blueprint for an in-district therapeutic program
PD & Training
10+ complete staff trainings with editable PD decks
For Your Board
A ready-made board presentation
The Evidence
Access to the peer-reviewed research foundation
Goal Bank
300+ curated, IEP-ready behavior and emotional goals, searchable and filterable
Additional Resources
Editable tools, forms, and implementation materials your staff can use on day one
★ Most Popular

Framework Plus

Annual subscription after your first year
Everything in The Framework package
Plus the platform that runs your program
Capture Data in Seconds
Log IEP and behavior data with one tap
See Progress as It Happens
Track goals, behaviors, and interventions in real time
Take the Work Out of Reporting
Instantly create goal suggestions and progress report drafts
Curriculum Ready to Use
Access K–12 therapeutic lessons and activities
Keep Every Support Connected
Manage accommodations, incidents, and family updates
Protected Today, Connected for Years
Secure student records can move with them throughout their school career
The Savings

See your district's numbers, live

Adjust the sliders. These are planning estimates. Actual costs vary by state and district.

💰 Many districts fund this through IDEA Part B. See how →

See your district’s savings

Students currently out-of-district5
Avg. annual tuition per student$142,000
Avg. annual transportation per student$18,500
Framework package$15,000
Planning estimates based on published state cost data and Reclaim Education program experience. Actual costs vary by state and district. Request a full analysis for figures specific to you.
Current OOD Spend
$823,500
per year, 5 students
In-District Cost
$165,000
Year 1, incl. framework
Year 1 Net Savings
$658,500
Break-even: 1 student prevented

5-Year Cost Trajectory

Out-of-District In-District
Request a full district analysis →
Real Outcomes

Students who stayed. Stories that matter.

These are the students every district has. The ones who needed a different kind of support, not a different school. The right infrastructure made all the difference.

Four years after graduating, she reached out with news she couldn’t wait to share: she’d been accepted into a radiology program. Staying in her home district had given her the stability to finish high school, and the confidence to reach for something she once thought was out of her reach.

1
Former Student
Now enrolled in Radiology School

She was ready to give up. Instead, the program met her exactly where she was, with partial days, flexible supports, and the structure she needed to keep going. She graduated. Not long ago, she stopped to say thank you, and to say she’s thriving.

2
Former Student
Graduate & Licensed Hairdresser

Her daughter just needed a safe place to finish, close to home and surrounded by her own community. The program gave her exactly that: the space and flexibility to graduate on her own terms. She went on to finish college and recently bought her first home, and her family remains forever grateful.

3
Parent
Daughter graduated college, now a homeowner

Stories reflect the types of outcomes therapeutic programs are designed to support. Details have been generalized to protect student and family privacy.

Research foundation

Built on established, peer-reviewed research

Every core design decision traces to published, peer-reviewed research.

11pp
Academic achievement gain from SEL programming
Durlak et al., 2011. 213 programs, 270,000 students
~⅔
Of adults report ≥1 adverse childhood experience
CDC-Kaiser ACE Study, Felitti et al., 1998
33%
Lower odds of an office discipline referral in PBIS schools
Bradshaw et al., 2012. Randomized trial
#1
Predictor of post-school employment: paid work experience
NLTS-2 Longitudinal Study
Funding

How districts fund this with existing dollars

Most districts don’t need new money to bring the Framework in-house. They need to point existing federal and state special education dollars at it correctly. Here’s how that typically works, and what to hand your business office.

💰

IDEA Part B (Section 611)

Federal formula funds that flow to every public school district in the country. Districts commonly use Part B funds for special education curriculum development, staff professional development, and instructional materials designed to improve outcomes for students with disabilities, all categories the Framework fits into.

🎓

Professional Development Budgets

The 10+ staff training modules, the paraprofessional playbook, and the crisis-response training are standard in-service PD, the kind districts already budget for every year, just delivered as a complete, ready-to-run system instead of built from scratch.

📊

Prevented-Placement Savings

Because one out-of-district placement can cost $80,000–$250,000+ a year, many districts fund the Framework directly from the savings generated by keeping a single student in-district, often making it self-funding within the first year.

How IDEA Part B Funds Can Be Used

IDEA Part B eligibility rules operate under the same federal framework in all 50 states, D.C., and U.S. territories. Every state education agency administers Part B funds under 34 CFR Part 300, so the core eligibility categories below don’t change state to state. What varies is each state’s application process and deadlines, which your special education director or business office already manages.

Federal rules place real limits on how Part B funds are used: funds may only cover the excess cost of educating students with disabilities, may not supplant state or local funds a district would otherwise spend, and any use of funds to pay a contractor or vendor must reflect a genuine need the district can’t reasonably meet internally, at a cost that’s reasonable and defensible to auditors. The IEP team, not any outside provider, always retains the authority to decide whether and how a program applies to an individual student.

We are not a law firm or your district’s auditor. This page is offered as a starting point, not funding advice specific to your district. Final determinations on allowable use always rest with your business office, special education director, and, where needed, your district’s legal counsel.

What to bring to your business office

1
Identify the funding line
Ask your special education director or business office which Part B allocation (Section 611 flow-through, or state-level set-aside) your district already receives, and how much is uncommitted for the current cycle.
2
Map the Framework to an allowable-use category
Curriculum development, professional development and training, and instructional materials are standard allowable-use categories under Part B. We provide a one-page breakdown showing how each part of the Framework maps to these categories. Ask us for it.
3
Document the need
Federal rules require that contracted services reflect a genuine need the district can’t meet internally. Your current out-of-district placement spend, and the gap in your continuum it represents, is typically that documentation.
4
Confirm with your state application
Every state submits an annual Part B application to the U.S. Department of Education. Your director can confirm current-year allocations and any state-specific procedural requirements directly through your state education agency’s special education finance office.
Get the funding worksheet →
Who We Are
♀ Woman-Owned Business

Built by educators.
Driven by outcomes.

Reclaim Education was founded on a simple belief: every student belongs in their home district. Our team has lived this work from the classroom up, and built the infrastructure to make it possible at scale.

Our Mission

Keep students in district. Our mission is to help districts build the programs, infrastructure, and tools that keep students where they belong: in their home community, with their peers, with a real chance to thrive.

Founder & Owner

Kasey Tortora

Professional Educator · Preschool Director · Farm to Classroom Fellow

Kasey has spent more than a decade in education, teaching, directing a preschool program, and writing grants that bring new opportunities into her classrooms. She has seen how much a child gains when the adults around them have the right tools, and she founded Reclaim Education to put those tools in the hands of more schools. She still stands in a classroom every day, and that is where every decision this company makes begins.

“Education should open doors for every child, in every community.”
Lead Consultant & Product Development

Matthew Tortora

10+ Years Professional Educator · Program Developer · Student Advocate

Matthew came up through the classroom as a paraprofessional and worked his way through every level of therapeutic education, gaining firsthand experience from the classroom to program development. Rather than replicate existing models, he combined what he learned with years of practice and continuous refinement to build an infrastructure that helps districts operate efficiently, reduce costs, and keep students in their own communities. This isn’t theory developed in a boardroom. It’s a system built by someone who has lived the work every day.

“I built this because I’ve seen what students can accomplish when they’re given the right support. I’ve lived it, and every student deserves that opportunity.”
✉ Matt@reclaimeducation.org
Executive Advisor

Julie Blum

Parent Advocate · Education Strategy · District Partnerships

Julie has spent years advocating for her own children in public schools, learning firsthand how much a family’s hope rides on decisions made in a conference room. Alongside that, a career in sales taught her how to listen closely and build the kind of trust that moves people forward. Her vision for Reclaim Education is what she champions as a parent: districts with everything they need to keep going when a student needs more, and the confidence to know they can.

“Every district wants to keep their students home. We help them get there.”
✉ Julie@reclaimeducation.org
Questions Directors Ask

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from hiring a BCBA consultant?+
A BCBA gives you clinical expertise for individual students. We give you the entire operational infrastructure to run a therapeutic program: room design, staffing models, curriculum, data systems, family engagement protocols, legal foundation, and a tracking platform. We build the system your BCBA works within, so your whole program runs efficiently, not just one student's plan.
Does this support IDEA and FAPE compliance?+
The framework and platform are designed to support your district's own IDEA implementation, built around least restrictive environment (LRE) principles, structured IEP progress monitoring, and documentation that holds up in PPT meetings. Every student keeps their IEP, their goals, and their right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE); our tools give your team the data and structure to support that, in their home district instead of an out-of-district placement. As always, compliance determinations are made by your district's IEP team. We recommend districts confirm alignment with their own legal counsel.
What if we do not have the space or staff?+
Most districts have more capacity than they realize. Part of our discovery process is helping you identify space and staffing you already have, and showing you how the money saved from even one or two prevented placements can fund the positions you need. We meet you where you are and build a plan that fits your building and budget.
How long until we can launch?+
It depends on your starting point, but many districts can stand up a program within a single planning cycle. We provide a phased implementation plan: pre-launch setup, launch, and stabilization, so you always know exactly what comes next and nothing gets missed.
What does a partnership cost?+
Every district is different, so we build a recommendation around your specific situation: your number of students, your goals, and your budget. What we can tell you is this: the framework is designed to pay for itself when even one student moves from an out-of-district placement to your in-district program. Start with a free discovery call and we will walk you through exactly what is included and what makes sense for you.
What kinds of districts do you work with?+
We work with public school districts anywhere in the country that are trying to keep high-need students in their home community instead of paying for costly out-of-district placements. The framework is built on nationally applicable research and practices, and it adapts to your state's funding landscape and requirements. If the problem sounds familiar, reach out and let's talk.

Still have questions? We would love to answer them.

Get in touch →
Request information

Let's talk about your district's students.

Tell us your situation and we'll respond within two business days with a tailored recommendation.

Request Information
Fields marked * are required.
By submitting you agree to be contacted at the email provided. We never share your information with third parties.

Thank you!

Your inquiry is in. We review district inquiries daily and will be in touch within two business days with a tailored recommendation.

If it's urgent, email Matt@reclaimeducation.org directly.