ASSEMBLY, No. 3189
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
211th LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED SEPTEMBER 13, 2004
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Reduces threshold amount for extraordinary cost special education State aid to $38,000 and by an additional $2000 for each subsequent school year.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning State aid for extraordinary special education costs and amending P.L.1996, c.138.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 19 of P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-19) is amended to read as follows:
19. a. Special education categorical aid for each school district and county vocational school district shall be calculated for the 1997-98 school year as follows:
Tier I is the number of pupils classified for other than speech correction services resident in the district which receive related services including, but not limited to, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and counseling. Aid shall equal 0.0223 of the T&E amount rounded to the nearest whole dollar for each of the four service categories provided per classified pupil.
Tier II is the number of pupils resident in the district meeting the classification definitions for perceptually impaired, neurologically impaired, educable mentally retarded and preschool handicapped; all classified pupils in shared time county vocational programs in a county vocational school which does not have a child study team receiving services pursuant to chapter 46 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes; and nonclassified pupils in State training schools or secure care facilities. For the purpose of calculating State aid for 1997-98, each district, other than a county vocational school district, shall have its pupil count for perceptually impaired reduced by perceptually impaired classifications in excess of one standard deviation above the State average classification rate at December 1995 or 9.8 percent of the district's resident enrollment. The perceptually impaired limitation shall be phased down to the State average of the prebudget year over a five-year period by adjusting the standard deviation as follows: 75 percent in 1998-99, 50 percent in 1999-2000, 25 percent in 2000-2001 and the State average in year five. No reduction in aid shall be assessed against any district in which the perceptually impaired classification rate is 6.5% or less of resident enrollment. Aid shall equal 0.4382 of the T&E amount rounded to the nearest whole dollar for each student meeting the Tier II criteria.
The commissioner shall develop a system to provide that each school district submits data to the department on the number of the district's pupils with a classification definition of perceptually impaired who are enrolled in a county vocational school. Such pupils shall be counted in the district of residence's resident enrollment for the purpose of calculating the limit on perceptually impaired classifications for Tier II State aid.
Tier III is the number of classified pupils resident in the district in categories other than speech correction services, perceptually impaired, neurologically impaired, educable mentally retarded, socially maladjusted, preschool handicapped, and who do not meet the criteria of Tier IV, intensive services; and nonclassified pupils in juvenile community programs. Aid shall equal 0.8847 of the T&E amount for each pupil meeting the Tier III criteria.
Tier IV is the number of classified pupils resident in the district receiving intensive services. For 1997-98, intensive services are defined as those provided in a county special services school district and services provided for pupils who meet the classification definitions for autistic, chronically ill, day training eligible, or visually handicapped, or are provided for pupils who meet the classification definition for multiply handicapped and are in a private school for the handicapped, educational services commission, or jointure commission placement in the 1996-97 school year. The commissioner shall collect data and conduct a study to determine intensive service criteria and the appropriate per pupil cost factor to be universally applied to all service settings, beginning in the 1998-99 school year. Aid shall equal 1.2277 of the T&E amount for each pupil meeting the Tier IV criteria.
Classified pupils in Tiers II through IV shall be eligible for Tier I aid. Classified pupils shall be eligible to receive aid for up to four services under Tier I.
For the 1998-99 school year, these cost factors shall remain in effect and special education aid growth shall be limited by the CPI growth rate applied to the T&E amount and changes in classified pupil counts. For subsequent years, the additional cost factors shall be established biennially in the Report on the Cost of Providing a Thorough and Efficient Education.
For the purposes of this section, classified pupil counts shall include pupils attending State developmental centers, DHS Regional Day Schools, State Division of Youth and Family Services' residential centers, State residential mental health centers, and institutions operated by or under contract with the Department of Human Services. Classified pupils of elementary equivalent age shall include classified preschool handicapped and kindergarten pupils.
b. In those instances in which the cost of providing education for an individual classified pupil exceeds $40,000:
(1) For costs in excess of $40,000 incurred in the 2002-2003 through 2004-2005 school years, the district of residence shall, in addition to any special education State aid to which the district is entitled on behalf of the pupil pursuant to subsection a. of this section, receive additional special education State aid as follows: (a) with respect to the amount of any costs in excess of $40,000 but less than or equal to $60,000, the additional State aid for the classified pupil shall equal 60% of that amount; (b) with respect to the amount of any costs in excess of $60,000 but less than or equal to $80,000, the additional State aid for the classified pupil shall equal 70% of that amount; and (c) with respect to the amount of any costs in excess of $80,000, the additional State aid for the classified pupil shall equal 80% of that amount; provided that in the case of an individual classified pupil for whom additional special education State aid was awarded to a district for the 2001-2002 school year, the amount of such aid awarded annually to the district for that pupil for the 2002-2003, 2003-2004 or 2004-2005 school year shall not be less than the amount for the 2001-2002 school year, except that if the district's actual special education costs incurred for the pupil in the 2002-2003, 2003-2004 or 2004-2005 school year are reduced below the amount of such costs for the pupil in the 2001-2002 school year, the amount of aid shall be decreased by the amount of that reduction; and
(2) For costs in excess of $40,000 incurred in the 2005-2006 school year [and thereafter], a district shall receive additional special education State aid equal to 100% of the amount of that excess.
Beginning in the 2006-2007 school year and thereafter, in addition to any special education State aid to which a district is entitled pursuant to subsection a. of this section, the district of residence shall receive additional special education State aid equal to 100% of the amount of the costs incurred by the district in the school year of providing education for an individual classified pupil which exceed the threshold amount. In the 2006-2007 school year the threshold amount shall equal $38,000, and in each subsequent school year, the threshold amount shall be reduced by $2,000.
A district, in order to receive funding pursuant to this subsection, 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.
c. 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] the amount established for that school year pursuant to subsection b. of this section. 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.
d. 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 program.
(cf: P.L. 2001, c.356)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Under current law, in those instances in which the cost of providing education for an individual classified pupil exceeds $40,000, the school district is eligible to receive extraordinary costs special education State aid in an amount equal to 100% of the amount that exceeds $40,000, beginning with the costs incurred in the 2005-2006 school year. Prior to that school year, the extraordinary cost special education State aid equals a percentage of those excess costs.
This bill provides that beginning in the 2006-2007 school year and thereafter, a school district will receive extraordinary costs special education State aid equal to 100% of the amount of the costs incurred by the district during the school year in providing educational services to an individual classified pupil which exceed the threshold amount. In the 2006-2007 school year, the threshold amount will equal $38,000, and in each subsequent school year, the threshold amount will be reduced by $2,000.