Marion School Board Presented with FDLRS Update at Work Session

OCALA, FL (352today.com) – James Husted, who is the Florida Diagnostic Learning Resources System/Springs coordinator, provided some overviews of what FDLRS offers, the cost structures and how they’re funded at the Marion County Public School Board administrative briefing and work session on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.

Husted described FDLRS as what one may call a quiet project.

“Years ago, there was an advertising campaign about the quiet company, and that’s kind of how we are,” said Husted. “We just go about our work. Our numbers prove that we’re highly accountable. I appreciate the opportunity to not be as quiet and share some of that information with you.”

The Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System is listed in Florida Statute, 1006.03, so it’s something that has authority and funding behind it, said Husted.

Marion County Presence

There are 18 FDLRS centers statewide. Some of the FDLRS centers are dedicated to one district, with some centers having as many as 12 school districts.

The centers that include Marion County serve seven districts, six school districts and the P.K. Yonge Lab School, which is considered a district. The network also has six specialty centers, and the one that is most familiar in this area is MDTP, Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Training Program, at the University of Florida. MDTP does evaluations and provides recommendations for very complex types of situations with children, said Husted.

There are two specialty centers, one that focuses on students with visual impairments, and one that focuses on students who are deaf or are hard of hearing and those types of needs.

‘The vision of the FDLRS network is that every child, regardless of the complexity, the mildness of the disability, that every child receiving ESC services will be able to achieve their fullest potential later on in life,” said Husted.

FDLRS’ mission outlines the four functions that they have in their network and are common across their different centers. FDLRS wants to support and enhance ESC programs by providing evidence-based, high-quality professional learning opportunities. They integrate assisted and instructional technology, promote family engagement, and ensure access to early intervention services.

Marion County is the largest district in their particular FDLRS service area, and has the greatest number of needs, and it makes sense that the center would be located there, said Husted.

“I sometimes say, we know Marion County like the back of our hand,” said Husted. “I’ve been to every single school in the district at some point, including charters and private schools, except for the two newest schools, but I did go to the kickoff meeting at Marion Oaks Elementary School, but I have not been to Ross Prairie or Winding Oaks. Northern Marion County is centrally located, so if you look at the back of your hand, think of that as Marion County, and the tip of your index finger is about where Reddick is, where FDLRS is, so when you think about our service area, Dixie County, Gilchrist, Alachua and so forth, we’re very centrally located in Reddick.”

The center in Reddick is also accessible to main thoroughfares, with people coming in and going out for training, they go out for their Child Find visits, said Husted. The center is located off of U.S. HWY 441 past the split of U.S. 441 and U.S. 301.

Funding mechanisms

How do other districts share in the cost for the FDLRS services? They pay for a lot of their professional learning locations, with most of the training occurring in the districts, said Husted. There are particular areas, schools, centers and district offices, that are provided. FDLRS is also provided with Child Find screening locations, they house a technology library, they host the parent and family services events, and they also provide the coordinating council. They support travel expenses for their staff, and they also pay for some of the professional learning materials that may be particular to their district.

The FDLRS Springs coordinating council provides oversight for the implementation of their project, said Husted. The coordinating council made up of the FDLRS exceptional student education and student services directors provide oversight to make certain they’re expending funds properly and providing equitable services based on the student populations throughout the service area. The council also reviews grant documents. There is a coordinating council chair. The council also provides FDLRS with access to the districts’ superintendents. Mandy Brock from Gilchrist County is the current coordinating council chair.

“We’re highly accountable, not just for the dollar to our fiscal agent, Marion County, but also through our projections that we make each year on deliverables,” said Husted. “What we do each year is meet with our coordinating council members and other district staff that have direct input into the services that we provide. We do grant planning meetings. We meet with them, discuss what their needs are, discuss what some of the needs are that the Department of Education has identified. We review district data, and then we say these are some of the things that we can offer you. We project that out, and then each year we have to submit quarterly reports to the Florida Department of Education. We have a couple of Return on Investment reports that we submit.”

FDLRS is funded through the Florida Department of Education, the BEESS Bureau within the Florida Department of Education, and the majority of the funding is based on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which was originally passed in 1975, and has since been reauthorized and amended. The preponderance of the funding comes through those IDEA funds, said Husted.

All FDLRS salaries, which includes raises as well as benefits, travel, contracts. printing–all of those things are being paid for through the grant money, said Husted.

Travel expenses increased on Jan. 1, 2026, based on federal guidelines, said Husted; however, FDLRS will absorb those costs as a project.

Federal grants are subject to indirect cost charges. The district and the finance department negotiate with the Florida Department of Education, and they determine what the indirect cost rate is going to be, those are costs that are taken off the top of the grant that are given to the FDLRS fiscal agent, which in the county’s case is Marion County, said Husted.

“We’re always told this is your rate for the coming school year,” said Husted. “Whatever is negotiated between the finance department and the Department of Education. There are upper limits of what districts can charge, and that’s what we go with, and that’s what we build our budget around.”