Gerard Thiers, Executive Director of ASAH
By Gerard Thiers
Federal law requires that every eligible child with disabilities – more than 220,000 in New Jersey – receive a “free and appropriate” education. Of course, special education services are not free. While they are provided at no cost to students or their families, they are payed for by taxpayers and funded through a combination of federal, state and local tax dollars. In certain cases, costs are offset through county funds as well.
In most cases, this system works. But when a single student has very intensive needs, it can cost a local school district in excess of excess of $50,000.
There is a ‘safety net.’ The “Extraordinary Costs” provision in New Jersey’s funding law provides added funding districts. Extraordinary Costs” refers to a provision in the New Jersey state funding formula that provides supplemental state aid to school districts for each student who needs intensive services and who has special education costs that exceed a certain threshold ($40,000 – $55,000 per child, depending on where they attend school). This aid is above and beyond the amount districts receive through the regular formula and is intended to help them pay the costs for students with intensive – and costly – needs.
Unfortunately, this has been underfunded since it was passed. In 2017, more than 500 of New Jersey’s 623 school districts received at least some extraordinary aid, but they received only 56 percent of the funds to which they were eligible due to underfunding of the program.
These funds come directly from the state to the local school district board of education to help offset the high cost of services the child needs. The money can be used for services in ANY special education placement: an inclusive general education classroom, a self-contained classroom in the district, or an out-of-district program. Funding goes DIRECTLY to the sending school district and follows the child – funds never go directly to a private school or to an out-of-district program itself.
The time to fully fund extraordinary costs is NOW. When adjusted for inflation, funding for this vital provision has been basically flat for more than a decade. The first significant increase–$55M–came last year. With the $55M increase in 2019, funding is moving in the right direction, but more is needed.
When funding is adequate, children and their local school districts benefit.
About the Author:
Gerard Thiers is the Executive Director of ASAH. ASAH is helping to lead a coalition of organization and agencies advocating for full funding for extraordinary costs.
