SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 1794
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: APRIL 17, 1997
The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 1794.
Senate Bill No. 1794 requires the Department of Education to pay to the Department of Human Services or the Juvenile Justice Commission, as appropriate, the difference between the amount of State aid otherwise payable and the amount of the actual cost of tuition for a pupil for whom the State has assumed fiscal responsibility because the pupil is classified as needing special education services and is in a private educational facility. The bill ensures that adequate funding of State-approved tuition will be provided for approximately 59 orphan children who have no school district of residence. Currently, the source of funding for tuition for these children does not cover the full cost of the tuition of the private educational facilities which these children attend.
As reported, this bill is identical of Assembly Bill No. 2665 of 1997 (Bagger).
FISCAL IMPACT
According to information provided by the Office of Education in the Department of Human Services, the enactment of this bill would cost the State approximately $1.1 million in the 1996-97 school year, for 59 children whose districts of residence are unknown and are placed in private educational facilities. The tuition costs for these children are approximately $1.9 million in the 1996-97 school year. The Office of Education received only $821,898 in State aid from the State Facilities Education Act program to cover the actual tuition costs.