Coaltion testifes before the Senate Education Committee
The Coalition for Special Education Funding Reform was among a handful of invited groups to testify before the Senate Education Committee in early February. We were invited to provide legislative priorities:
1) See that New Jersey return to a weighted categorical funding system for special education. Under CEIFA, special education aid was based on the intensity of student need. All sources of aid need to follow the child, regardless of where he or she goes to school.
2) See that the State to commission an independent study to determine the full actual excess costs of providing special education services on a statewide and regional basis. There are no accurate data to compare costs across settings.
3) Preserve New Jersey’s “Burden of Proof” law, which requires local school districts to bear the burden of proof when special education services are challenged in court.
4) Ensure full funding for districts serving students with highly specialized, intensive special education needs though an ‘extraordinary services’ special education aid supplement. The funding formula should be revisited so that aid is generated based on the services in a student’s IEP – not the cost of the placement. This aid must be transportable across placements, so that districts working to return students who are in self-contained settings and who receive intensive services do not risk losing state aid.
