Jim Thorpe Area School District has approved a new agreement with Youth Services Agency.

The new agreement includes an increased billing rate for each child in the program. YSA will be charging the district $76.25 per child, per day, up from $70 in 2014.“Currently, we feel that the agreement is fair for both parties. The increase is based off of our daily rate from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The agreement will ensure that our JTASD students enrolled in the YSA program are continuing to receive a proper education for the length of their stay,” Superintendent Brian J. Gasper said at a board meeting last week.YSA is a nonprofit corporation that works with at-risk youth in Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic region, relying on community service and occupational education to help rehabilitate offenders in the junior justice systems. The court system assigns children to Camp Adams in Penn Forest Township, which is described as a “residential treatment center.”Often, these children are from outside the area.The exact number of students housed at YSA has not been released, but according to audit reports on the corporation’s website, 43 students were at the facility as of April. The facility is designed for 56 students.YSA receives payments for each child in the program from Jim Thorpe, which is supposed to then bill the students’ home districts to recoup costs.“The billing of other school districts is a time-consuming and complicated process. As a result, there are times that it might take a district one to three years to receive payment. As an example, we just received a large payment within the past few weeks from a student that was educated nearly three years ago,” Gasper said.YSA operates under a rule from the Pennsylvania school code, which says that children who reside in orphanages, children’s homes or any institution for the care or training of children are due an opportunity for education services.Without proper funding, Camp Adams could potentially close down, forcing the district to take the children in.This has caused some outrage throughout the community in the past, with local students and parents fearing for their safety. Gasper has said that the partnership between YSA and the district has been going smoothly.“Both parties have been working well together for the past two years and we anticipate this agreement will solidify another good working relationship for the next two years,” Gasper said.“To protect the students that we deal with, we have no comment,” YSA Admissions Director Ed Weaver said in response to questions regarding the number of students in the program, as well as the billing of school districts.