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May 29 2008 STATE FUNDING FOR EXTRAORDINARY COST Issue Summary: Produced by Garden State Coalition of Schools and The New Jersey Coalition for Special Education Funding Reform (Released at the GSCS Annual Meeting, May 29, 2008.) Issue Summary STATE FUNDING FOR EXTRAORDINARY COST Produced by Garden State Coalition of Schools and The New Jersey Coalition for Special Education Funding Reform The newly enacted school funding law has modified every aspect of special education funding, including funding for ‘extraordinary costs.’ In the past, local school districts could apply to the NJDOE for reimbursement for any special education placement with tuition costs in excess of $40,000. Amounts over the $40,000 threshold were eligible for state funding. The new law sets different two different thresholds for out-of-district placements, based on whether the program serving the child with a disability is publicly or privately operated. It also defines which costs can be counted toward those thresholds. For public out-of-district programs, the new law retains a $40,000 threshold, but limits the allowable costs only to those associated with direct instruction and support. For private out-of-district programs, the new law raises the threshold to $55,000, but continues to allow the full tuition to be counted. According to the non partisan Office of Legislative services, “increased threshold for students enrolled in private schools for students with disabilities will deem a significant share of students ineligible for any cost reimbursement. Of the more than 13,000 applications for extraordinary aid reimbursement, nearly 42% were for students in private schools with tuitions below the new $55,000 threshold. As a result, the number of students who would quality for reimbursement declines to approximately 7,800 under SRFA.” A review of published tuition costs of County Special Services Programs reveals that most would not meet the new threshold for public out-of-district programs, which limits reimbursable costs to only those direct instruction and support costs in excess of $40,000. SRFA has diminished, not increased the state’s commitment to districts serving students with extraordinary needs.
Changes in Extraordinary Special Education Aid CEIFA SRFA Reimbursement Rate In-district public or private 100% 90% Out-of-District public or private 100% 75% Costs Allowed to be Considered In-district public full tuition instruction & support private full tuition full tuition Out-of district public full tuition instruction & support private full tuition full tuition Cost Threshold In-district- public or private 40,000 40,000 * Out-of-District public 40,000 40,000 * private 40,000 55,000 (*) not the full tuition amount, see above
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