Renewing Washtenaw County's special education millage would mean stable funding for federally mandated programs in school districts around the county, Ypsilanti Superintendent Dedrick Martin said Monday.

Currently, school districts get about 84 percent of their funding for special education from the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, and all of that funding comes from a .985-mill tax levy. Martin said conversations are beginning at the county level about the campaign to pass a renewal of the millage in the spring.

“One of the things that is painfully clear is that if we don’t do something in the near future and our reimbursement for special education services drop off significantly, it’s going to have a devastating effect on our general fund budget," he said.

The millage costs the owner of a home with a taxable value of $100,000 about $98.50 annually.

Even if the millage is renewed, declining property values mean school districts will still see their portion of special education funding decrease, Martin said. He said it's expected that in the second year of the millage, the amount would decrease to 77 percent, 75 percent in the third year and then dip into the 60 percent range.

School board president David Bates said board members must help generate support to pass the millage.

“It’s an important measure we need to take and when the time comes, I hope this board will be ready to heartily support it,” he said. “We need to engage the PTOs and other groups in the community.”

In other business, school board members also approved joining the countywide International Baccalaureate program.

Ypsilanti is among a number of school districts that have agreed to join the consortium, along with Ann Arbor. The program will be housed at East Middle School in Ypsilanti.

The IB is a rigorous program of learning used around the world. More than 3,000 IB programs exist in 139 countries around the world, involving about 1 million students. There are 33 IB schools in Michigan.

A total of 600 students will attend Washtenaw International High School, with 150 students entering each of the first four years. The number of spots allocated to each district will be divided proportionally according to the size of the district. The students attending the school will be determined by random lottery.

The proposed budget for the first full year of the program, the 2011-12 school year, is about $1.4 million.

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.