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6-29-06 GSCS 'QUICKNET FYI' Update on State Budget for FY 2007
JUST IN - Link to A4700/Greenwald: Assembly Budget Committee proposed bill for Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillsByNumber.asp Also - EXTRAORDINARY AID FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION MAKES ETRAORDINARY SENSE… Here’s why...

 

ON THE HOMEPAGE today…

JUST IN  -  Link to A4700/Greenwald: Assembly Budget Committee proposed bill for Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007:    http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillsByNumber.asp

 

6-29-06 Mirroring the elements, State Budget looking like a 'natural disaster'

Read related latest articles & columns, representative of what's going on - and what's not - in Trenton (GSCS has been a daily observer of the process) to resolve the state budget for Fiscal Year 2007. With the Governor threatening to eliminate 500M in "basic school aid" and 300M in municipal aid if legislators don't pass a budget that includes his 1 cent sale tax hike, the pressure is being felt all around. Yesterday the Assembly Budget Committee meeting devolved into a ‘freeze  zone’ , confronting the Governor’s Treasurer Bradley Abelow to come to their meeting and explain why the Governor did not like their proposal for a budget that excluded a sales tax boost. A day long standoff occurred, nothing happened and the clock kept ticking…. Meanwhile, legislators on both sides of the aisle and in both the Senate & Assembly meanwhile are looking to provide a link between any potential tax increase to property tax relief. GSCS and legislators have noted that bringing special education 'extraordinary aid' towards its statutory promise is one effective way to do that - a good faith demonstration to local taxpayers as well as public education students, no matter where they reside, that Trenton 'get's it' and is trying to help alleviate competing program needs and rising property taxes.

More ...

 

FYI– What’s on the Running Banner at top of www.gscschools.org:

 

… JUNE 29, 2006 State Budget for FY07 still up in the air - appears that Appropriations Act for FY07 will not be finalized by its statutory deadline of June 30...Governor Corzine is proposing phasing down of government services if & when that deadline is not met… JUNE 27 GSCS President Marjorie Heller represented GSCS at the first meeting of the Special Education Review Commission. Heller has a seat on this Commission…JUNE 26 The Governor's office has asked the school funding coalition to meet with them on July 19 to review progress for a new school funding formula... GSCS to be a panelist on the July 27 SCC forum addressing school construction issues for the regular operating districts (RODs)…JUNE 6 Senate President Dick Codey and Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts - with Governor Corzine's blessing - announced Special Session this July and 4 bicameral legislative Task Force groups to work over summer to produce legislation that would address property tax relief...GSCS has worked with its partners in the education community of the principles needed to provide a common ground discussion for new school aid formula - see 'Funding Coalition' paper via sidebar, "School Funding Facts, etc."... NEW JERSEY HAS NOT USED ITS OWN SCHOOL AID FUNDING FORMULA FOR REGULAR OPERATING DISTRICTS SINCE 2002...GSCS has long pressed for the state to address NJ's need for a credible and equitable school aid formula that works for all students and communities...

 

 

Why it would help to include special education ‘extraordinary’ aid

in FY07 Budget

It’s a ‘nod’ of understanding in the direction of the needs of regular operating districts students [not only are special education students helped by direct aid but also regular student programs are not negatively impacted by potential funding shifts w/out the extraordinary aid support] and a recognition that budget stabilizing is important.

 

If the aid is included in the FY07 budget it can be applied to the program directly using budget language similar to enrollment growth aid funding.

 

Rationale for funding special education extraordinary aid in FY07

• Regular Operating Districts (approx. 550 districts) have not received any boost in state formula aid since FY02.

 

• Special Education enrollment has grown in regular operating districts by approx. 17K.

 

• The state is sending a very negative message in not supporting their share of the aid for even these most vulnerable of our students and their mandated programs.

 

• The state is ignoring its statutory obligation to students while leaving its responsibility in this regard to local taxpayers.

 

How would increasing the state share of funding special education  be received?

It is past due for the state to acknowledge that communities and students in the approx. 550 regular operating districts have been ignored by the executive branch [going into the 6^th year in a row now]. A nod from Trenton in their direction would be very welcome and would offer a sense of being visible for the first time in recent years. [The legislature has appropriated some aid via the Appropriations Act where approximately 1 of 4 districts has gained; conversely that means that 3 out of every 4 districts have lost.]

 

Why should special education extraordinary aid be updated? (note: Abbott districts have received funding for their special education costs, so costs for the increases should only apply to regular operating districts):

 

• bringing the “extraordinary” aid  for students whose costs exceed $40K up to date. This has been held level since FY03.

 

EXTRAORDINARY AID FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION MAKES ETRAORDINARY SENSE…

Here’s why:

1. It helps our most vulnerable children.
2. It has a wide impact. The aid follows the child and is thus indiscriminate in what type of district it reaches. In 2003 439 school districts met the conditions to qualify for this aid.
3. Since this aid offsets extraordinary (and unpredictable) costs to local districts, it is exactly the kind of help school communities need in lean state budget years.
4. 4. It helps to offset that portion of the unfunded mandate that local taxpayers have had to support when the state does not fulfill this statutory promise.

 

Increasing the funding for extraordinary special education aid is a win all the way around. All children, their towns, and their municipalities can reap benefits through this needed funding. Trenton’s recognition of this help to localities and its direct tie-in to property tax relief is a common sense appropriation in a particularly difficult budget year.