Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

 
     GSCS Bar Chart: Statewide Special Education cost percent compared to Regular & Other Instructional cost percent 2004-2011
     11-18-10 Proposed Somerset County school for special ed students would include convenience store
     Special Education Series - Asbury Park Press 'Special Care-Unkown Costs'
     GSCS - High costs of Special Education must be addressed asap, & appropriately
     9-23-09 'Tests changing for special ed students'
     7-22-09 'State gives extra aid for schools an extraordinary boost'
     6-26-09 Executive Director to GSCS Trustees; Wrap Up Report - State Budget and Assembly bills this week
     6-24-09 U.S. Supreme Court backs reimbursement for private tuition
     090416 DOE RELEASE - IDEA ALLOCATIONS
     NJ District listing, Title One & IDEA under federal stimulus law
     12-29-08 NJ to new leaders - Fund our schools
     OCT 7 FORUM - DIRECTIONS & PARKING INFO ATTACHED
     OCT 7 FORUM - DIRECTIONS ATTACHED; PARKING FORMS TO BE AVAILABLE HERE SOON!
     GSCS, Special Education Coalition for Funding Reform, and Rutgers Institute co-sponsor Forum Oct 7th
     SAVE THE DATE - OCT. 7TH
     May 29 2008 STATE FUNDING FOR EXTRAORDINARY COST
     GSCS School Funding Paper 'Funding NJ's Schools...Finding a Workable Solution' distributed 10-22-07 at Press Conf in Trenton
     UPDATED - Possible Spec. Educ. Aid Loss to districts (based on current aid per current, yet outdated by 6 years, CEIFA distribution) if state chooses to 'wealth-equalize' this aid in a future formula
     10-23 Media reports & Trenton responses to date re GSCS Press Conf
     Spec. Educ. Aid Loss to districts (based on current aid per current, yet outdated by 6 years, CEIFA distribution) if state chooses to 'wealth-equalize' this aid in a future formula
     11-1-06 Press Conference packet
     9-20-07 New Jersey School Boards Assoc. Releases its Report on Special Education
     7-26-07 Council on Local Mandates reverses DOE spec ed regulation
     6-29-07 Lots of news affecting NJ, its schools and communities this week - STATE BUDGET signed - LIST OF LINE ITEM VETOES - US SUPREME CT RULING impacts school desgregation - SPECIAL EDUCATION GROUPS file suit against state
     Special Education Review Commission Report submitted April 2007
     Special Education - proposed 'burden of proof' legislation, Spec Educ Review Commission Report
     2-15-07 'Parents get boost on special ed rights' Star Ledger
     8-17-06 Special Education costs & Constitutional Questions re Tax Reform
     6-29-06 Mirroring the elements, State Budget looking like a 'natural disaster'
     6-12-06 EMAILNET - Extraordinary Special Education student aid; FY07 Budget 'crunch' is on; news clips
     5-16-06 EMAILNET Action in Trenton
     3-22-06 EMAILNET Governor Corzine's Budget Message
     1-19-06 GSCS member concerns re Proposed Revisions in Special Education Code
     Charts Spec Ed & Health Benefits increases v Local Levy since CEIFA has been frozen
     CHART: Health Benefits & Special Educ v.local levy FY02 to FY06 (pdf)
     2-28-06 Dept of Education Spec Educ Rules
     1-19-06 New Jersey Assoc of School Adminstrators on Sped Educ code revisions
     Proposed State Budget for Fiscal Year 2006 - GSCS Testimony
     Statewide - Special Educ & Total Enrollment Growth Chart 2001-2004[gscs]
     Special Education Enrollments 2003 statewide by DFG
     GSCS Testimony 2003 on Suggestions for School Funding - issues similar to 2005-6
9-20-07 New Jersey School Boards Assoc. Releases its Report on Special Education
LIVE FROM THE STAR LEDGER: 'Report: Schools need major money for special education' "New Jersey school districts need a massive infusion of additional state aid and state-funded teacher training to keep up with the growing cost of special educational services for students with autism or other learning disabilities, a new report released this morning shows..."

For the full NJSBA report: http://njsba.org/specialeducation/

For the full NJSBA report:       http://njsba.org/specialeducation/

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STAR LEDGER: Report: Schools need major money for special education

by Dunstan McNichol Thursday September 20, 2007, 12:28 PM

New Jersey school districts need a massive infusion of additional state aid and state-funded teacher training to keep up with the growing cost of special educational services for students with autism or other learning disabilities, a new report released this morning shows.

Prepared in anticipation of the upcoming effort to rewrite the formula by which state officials distribute more than $7 billion in state school aid each year, the report says New Jersey public schools spend $3.3 billion a year on special education, with about $1.9 billion provided by local property taxpayers.

The report says the state should eventually cover the full $1.9 billion cost now borne locally. It suggests starting by boosting state special education aid by $171 million next year to fully fund a 2002 law designed to have the state cover any student's costs that exceed $40,000 per-year.

"Our schools need significantly higher levels of state and federal funding so they can provide quality services without overburdening local property taxpayers," said Edwina Lee, executive director of the New Jersey Schools Boards Association, which prepared the report.

The report says New Jersey's longstanding penchant for placing special education students in out-of-district schools drives costs up through high transportation and tuition costs.

"Students in out-of-district placements account for 10 percent of the special education population, but use almost 40 percent of the expenditures," Lee said during a press conference at the Statehouse to present the report.

The report, which analyzed school spending in 2005 and 2006, also noted that staffing for special education services has increased sharply, with school districts having one staff member for every five special needs students in 2005, compared to one for every seven students a decade earlier.

According to the report, services for each of 205,897 students receiving special education services averaged $16,081 per pupil - about 1.6 times the amount spent on general education.