December 2, 2008

Corzine presses for special ed funding

By RAJU CHEBIUM
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

Gov. Jon S. Corzine says he wants the federal government to pay its promised share of special education funding as part of a bigger stimulus bill, and revised his estimate of how big such a measure should be.

Corzine was in Washington this afternoon for a meeting of the Democratic Governors Association. Earlier in the day, he and other governors -- Democrats and Republicans -- met with President-elect Barack Obama in Philadelphia. The purpose of that meeting was for Obama to gather ideas from the governors about what should be in a second stimulus package.

"We have a mandate from the federal government that we have to provide special aid to special ed kids," Corzine said. "The federal government is supposed to take up 40 percent of the mandate.... (We've) never gotten over 17 or 18 percent. (It) seems to me they ought to take a step up in their contributions."

That, he said, would free up money for other educational priorities and prevent cuts in school budgets.

Corzine previously sought a stimulus package between $250 billion to $300 billion. Today, he said the dire economic circumstances have caused him to revise that figure upward to $600 billion to $800 billion over two years.

Congress is scheduled to return to Washington next week to consider an aid package to the Detroit auto industry. Democratic leaders are said to be working on a larger package of about $500 billion or more to jump-start the economy, which has been in a recession since December 2007.

Obama has said he will sign a second stimulus soon after he takes office. The first one, which cost taxpayers nearly $170 billion, resulted in tax rebate checks of at least $300 each.