SELAH -- It's the kind of calculation that makes even the most hard-boiled budget writer wince.

Is it worth closing a beloved home for profoundly developmentally disabled people because it would save millions of dollars at a time when the state is looking for every penny it can find?

Here at the Yakima Valley School Tuesday, the answer was a resounding "no" as Republican legislators from the 13th, 14th and 15th Districts promised parents and staff members to do everything in their power to keep the 61-year-old institution open.

Even as they applauded Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire's no-new-taxes budget, Yakima's fiscally conservative legislators didn't hesitate to try and protect a local institution that provides union-wage jobs and nursing-level care to a vulnerable population.

"We need as a state to provide this level of care," Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, said during a news conference in the foyer of the five-story, red-brick building on Speyers Road. "I cannot believe that closing this school and moving patients can be a good thing by any measure."

Joining King were Rep.-elect Norm Johnson, R-Yakima, Reps. Charles Ross, R-Naches, Bruce Chandler, R-Granger; Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake; Mayors Bob Jones of Selah and Dave Edler of Yakima; and former state Sen. Alex Deccio, who is credited with saving Yakima Valley School the last several times it's been slated for the cutting room floor.

"This is the third time they've tried to close the door, and each time they've been unsuccessful," Deccio said. "I will do everything to make sure they are unsuccessful again."

The original building was built in 1947 as a tuberculosis hospital and converted to a residential facility for individuals with developmental disabilities in 1958. Over the years, residents have been moved into 15 separate duplex cottages on campus, each with about eight beds.

Gregoire has proposed closing Yakima Valley School by 2011 and moving its 88 residents into community-living settings, such as group homes and apartments. Closing the school would save the state $17.7 million a year, state budget officials say.

Legislators say the projected savings would be marginal once relocation costs are factored in. Plus, they point out, the state would have to bear the cost of subsidizing the residents' care in privately run facilities.

But caring for the developmentally disabled in the community is less expensive, an argument local lawmakers weren't immediately prepared to dispute but one they'll face in Olympia next month when the Legislature convenes.

Cost comparisons vary.

A recent report to the Legislature found the annual cost in 2004 of a community bed came to $126,000 compared to $147,000 for institutional care. The most recent annual cost per patient at Yakima Valley School was $172,500.

Their care is funded equally by state and federal Medicaid funds.

The Arc of Washington, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of the developmentally disabled, suggests the state could save even more money with community care.

The average annual cost per client in community living in 2008 was $61,127 compared with $186,577 for the state's five residential institutions, including the Yakima Valley School. Arc's figures are based on data from the state Department of Social and Health Services.

King said one way to close the cost gap might be to increase the school's population, which could lower its fixed costs. The facility -- which can house up to 128 residents -- is 68 percent full.

King said the Yakima Valley delegation will also explore leasing the mostly empty main building, a former hospital, to other state agencies.

No one disputes that labor and overhead expenses have driven up costs at Yakima Valley School. Its 270 employees are members of the Washington State Federation of State Employees and receive health-care and pension benefits. Many are licensed practical and registered nurses.

Employees at community-living sites, by contrast, start at $9.65, just above the new minimum wage of $8.55 an hour. There are no nurses on staff, and employees generally don't have health insurance or retirement benefits.

While it might lose the cost battle, the Yakima Valley School has been ranked the second most efficient operation of the state's five residential institutions, according to a 2002 legislative study.

That is ammunition for Chandler. "Every time this school is tested, it has proven to be one of the most efficient facilities the state operates," he said.

Sue Elliott, Arc executive director, said the organization supports closing Yakima Valley School and similar facilities because the concept of having the developmentally disabled live in a state institution is obsolete.

"Over time, the way people view the developmentally disabled has changed," Elliott said. "Even people with significant disabilities are accepted and thrive in community living situations."

Parents of adult children at the Yakima Valley School strongly disagree. Anne Kruger's daughter, Theresa, 35, has lived at the school since she was 8. Theresa is nonverbal and fed through a tube.

"The caregivers there know her and communicate with her through eye contact," Kruger said.

That personal touch would be lost at a group home where employees may not earn much more than the minimum wage, Kruger said.

People who run private community-living homes disagree and say their lower cost structure would allow the state to tackle the long list of aging parental caregivers waiting to move their children into group homes.

"A lot of people don't realize our expertise," said Mary Margaret Cornish, executive director of Community Living, a Yakima-based nonprofit started in 1969 by parents of developmentally disabled children who sought a noninstitutional setting.

Community Living provides homes and 24-hour care for 63 developmentally disabled clients in Yakima and Sunnyside. Seven of those residents came from Yakima Valley School.

Randy Hauck, regional director in Yakima, said Community Living could easily find the space to accommodate more referrals from institutions. "It's just a matter of finding affordable housing," he said.

The battle over the Yakima Valley School is likely to be protracted and emotional. At Tuesday's news conference, legislators were not shy about advising parents to make a lot of noise in the coming weeks.

"Your testimony and your lives are the most powerful weapon we have in Olympia," Chandler said.

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.