In a rare “turn around,” the NJDOE has rescinded a controversial proposal to cut funding to state approved specialized schools serving students with complex disabilities.
In January, NJDOE proposed more than 200 changes to NJAC 6A:23A, Subchapter 18, which defines and regulates the ways in which the Department sets tuition rates for state-approved private special education schools. Advocates assert that the changes would have produced massive cuts to tuition and forced private special education schools to cut services. They had presented the changes to the State Board of Education for their approval and adoption.
Tuition rates at state approved private schools are set each year by the State of New Jersey based on what they deem to be “allowable costs”. When the cost is “allowed” it can be included in the tuition; when an expense is “disallowed” by the Department, the service must either be eliminated or must be absorbed by the private school itself. This regulatory language defines what can and cannot be counted toward tuition and sets broad limits on their fiscal operations.
Under the leadership of incoming education commissioner Kevin Dehmer, NJDOE rescinded the proposal, asking the New Jersey State Board of Education instead to readopt the existing code with no substantive changes.
State approved private special education schools are part of New Jersey’s public special education system, serving roughly 10,000 students with complex disabilities in New Jersey. These students are public school students and remain the responsibility of the local public school.
