Bill Text: NJ A1282 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides for full funding of extraordinary special education State aid.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee [A1282 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A1282-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblymen Simonsen, McClellan, Assemblywomen Flynn and Matsikoudis
SYNOPSIS
Provides for full funding of extraordinary special education State aid.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning extraordinary special education State aid and amending P.L.2007, c.260.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 13 of P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-55) is amended to read as follows:
13. a. Special education categorical aid for each school district and county vocational school district shall be calculated as follows:
SE = (RE x SEACR x AEC x 1/3) x GCA
where
RE is the resident enrollment of the school district or county vocational school district;
SEACR is the State average classification rate for general special education services pupils;
AEC is the excess cost for general special education services pupils; and
GCA is the geographic cost adjustment as developed by the commissioner.
For the 2008-2009 school year the excess cost shall be $10,898 for general special education services pupils. The excess cost amount shall be adjusted by the CPI in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years as required pursuant to subsection b. of section 4 of this act. For subsequent school years, the excess cost amount shall be established in the Educational Adequacy Report, with the amount adjusted by the CPI for each of the two school years following the first school year to which the report is applicable.
b. Extraordinary special education aid for an individual classified pupil shall be available when the student is educated in a general education classroom, special education program, including but not limited to a resource program or special class program, or any combination of general education and special education programs and services, subject to the requirements and thresholds set forth in this section.
(1) In those instances in which a pupil is educated in an in-district public school program with non-disabled peers, whether run by a public school or by a private school for the disabled, and the cost of providing direct instructional and support services for an individual classified pupil exceeds $40,000, for those direct instructional and support services costs in excess of $40,000 a district shall receive extraordinary special education State aid equal to 90% of the amount of that excess in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (4) of this subsection.
(2) In those instances in which a pupil is educated in a separate public school program for students with disabilities and the cost of providing direct instructional and support services for an individual classified pupil exceeds $40,000, for those direct instructional and support services costs in excess of $40,000 a district shall receive extraordinary special education State aid equal to 75% of the amount of that excess in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (4) of this subsection.
(3) In those instances in which a pupil is educated in a separate private school for students with disabilities and the tuition for an individual classified pupil exceeds $55,000, for tuition costs in excess of $55,000 a district shall receive extraordinary special education State aid equal to 75% of the amount of that excess in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (4) of this subsection.
(4) Extraordinary special education State aid for an individual classified pupil shall be calculated as follows:
EA = ((ADC-$40,000) x .90) + (((AIC - $40,000) + (ASC - $55,000)) x .75)
where
ADC equals the district's actual cost for the direct instructional and support services in an in-district public school program as set forth in paragraph (1) of this subsection;
AIC equals the district's actual cost for direct instructional and support services in a separate public school program as set forth in paragraph (2) of this subsection; and
ASC equals the district's actual cost for tuition paid to a separate private school as set forth in paragraph (3) of this subsection.
(5) The receipt of extraordinary special education State aid for an individual classified pupil shall be conditioned upon a demonstration by the district that the pupil's Individualized Education Plan requires the provision of intensive services, pursuant to factors determined by the commissioner.
c. In order to receive funding pursuant to this section, a district shall file an application with the department that details the expenses incurred on behalf of the particular classified pupil for which the district is seeking reimbursement. Additional State aid awarded for extraordinary special education costs shall be recorded by the district as revenue in the current school year and paid to the district in the subsequent school year.
d. A school district may apply to the commissioner to receive emergency special education aid for any classified pupil who enrolls in the district prior to March of the budget year and who is in a placement with a cost in excess of $40,000 or $55,000, as applicable. The commissioner may debit from the student's former district of residence any special education aid which was paid to that district on behalf of the student.
e. The department shall review expenditures of federal and State special education aid by a district in every instance in which special education monitoring identifies a failure on the part of the district to provide services consistent with a pupil's Individualized Education Plan.
f. The commissioner shall commission an independent study of the special education census funding methodology to determine if adjustments in the special education funding formulas are needed in future years to address the variations in incidence of students with severe disabilities requiring high cost programs and to make recommendations for any such adjustments. The study and recommendations shall be completed by June 30, 2010.
g. A school district may apply to the commissioner to receive additional special education categorical aid if the district has an unusually high rate of low-incidence disabilities, such as autism, deaf/blindness, severe cognitive impairment, and medically fragile. In applying for the aid the district shall: demonstrate the impact of the unusually high rate of low-incidence disabilities on the school district budget and the extent to which the costs to the district are not sufficiently addressed through special education aid and extraordinary special education aid; and provide details of all special education expenditures, including details on the use of federal funds to support those expenditures.
h. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, a school district's receipt of extraordinary special education aid shall be equal to 100 percent of the amount calculated pursuant to paragraph (4) of subsection b. of this section in the first full school year following the date of enactment and in each school year thereafter.
(cf: P.L.2007, c.260, s.13)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that, in the first full school year following the date of enactment and in each school year thereafter, the State will fund extraordinary special education aid at 100 percent of the amount calculated under current law. Under current law, districts may apply for reimbursement for certain costs of educating students with disabilities when the costs exceed $40,000 (if the student is educated in a public school program) or $55,000 (if the student attends a private school for students with disabilities). The reimbursement rates included in the State school funding law are 90 percent of the expenditures above the threshold for students educated in a public school program with other students who do not have disabilities and 75 percent for other students.
In recent years, the annual appropriations act has not provided sufficient funding to reimburse school districts for 100 percent of the extraordinary special education costs calculated under current law. In fiscal year 2023, the $420 million appropriation for extraordinary special education aid funded approximately 83.9 percent of total eligible costs incurred by school districts in the 2021-2022 school year.
