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A147
ASSEMBLY, No. 147
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman DAWN FANTASIA
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
Assemblyman MICHAEL INGANAMORT
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
SYNOPSIS
���� Requires minimum geographic cost adjustment for
school districts in all counties.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act
concerning the use of geographic cost
adjustments in the provision of State school aid and amending P.L.2007, c.260.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� Section 9 of P.L.2007,
c.260 (C.18A:7F-51) is amended to read as follows:
���� 9.��� a.� The adequacy budget
for each school district and county vocational school district shall be
calculated as follows:
���� AB� = (BC + AR Cost + LEP Cost
+ COMB Cost + SE Census) x GCA
where
���� BC� is the district's or
county vocational school district's base cost as calculated pursuant to section
8 of this act;
���� AR Cost is the cost of
providing educational and other services for at-risk pupils as calculated
pursuant to subsection b. of this section;
���� LEP Cost is the cost of
providing educational and other services for bilingual education pupils as
calculated pursuant to subsection c. of this section;
���� COMB Cost is the cost of
providing educational and other services for pupils who are both at-risk and
bilingual as calculated pursuant to subsection d. of this section;
���� SE Census is the cost of
providing programs and services to general special education services pupils
and speech-only pupils as calculated pursuant to subsection e. of this section;
and
���� GCA is geographic cost
adjustment.
���� The GCA shall be the
geographic cost adjustment developed by the commissioner and revised by the
commissioner every five years in accordance with receipt of census data
,
except that GCA shall not be less than 1.0 for any county
.
���� b.��� AR Cost shall be
calculated as follows:
���� AR Cost = BPA x ARWENR x AR
Weight
where�
���� BPA is the base per pupil
amount;
���� ARWENR is the weighted
enrollment for at-risk pupils of the school district or county vocational
school district, which shall not include combination pupils; and
���� AR Weight is the at-risk
weight.
���� For the 2008-2009 through
2010-2011 school years the at-risk weight shall be as follows:
���� for a district in which the
concentration of at-risk pupils is less than 20% of resident enrollment, the
at-risk weight shall equal 0.47;
���� for a district in which the
concentration of at-risk pupils is equal to 20% but less than 60% of resident
enrollment, the at-risk weight shall equal the district's ((at-risk % - 0.20) x
0.25))+ 0.47; and for a district in which the concentration of at-risk pupils
is equal to or greater than 60% of resident enrollment, the at-risk weight
shall equal 0.57.
���� For subsequent school years,
the AR weight shall be established in the Educational Adequacy Report.
���� c.���� LEP Cost shall be
calculated as follows:
���� LEP Cost = BPA x LWENR x LEP
Weight
where
���� BPA is the base per pupil
amount;
���� LWENR is the weighted
enrollment for the bilingual education pupils of the school district or county
vocational school district, which shall not include combination pupils; and
���� LEP Weight is the bilingual
pupil weight.
For the 2008-2009 through 2010-2011
school years the LEP weight shall be 0.5.� For subsequent school years, the LEP
weight shall be established in the Educational Adequacy Report.
���� d.��� COMB Cost shall be
calculated as follows:
���� COMB Cost = BPA x CWENR x (AR
Weight + COMB Weight)
where
���� BPA is the base per pupil
amount;
���� CWENR is the weighted
enrollment for pupils who are both at-risk and bilingual;
���� AR Weight is the at-risk
weight; and
���� COMB Weight is the combination
pupil weight.
���� For the 2008-2009 through
2010-2011 school years the COMB weight shall be 0.125.� For subsequent school
years, the COMB weight shall be established in the Educational Adequacy Report.
���� e.���� SE Census shall be
calculated as follows:
����
SE Census = (RE
x SEACR x AEC x 2/3) + (RE x SACR x SEC)
where
���� RE is the resident enrollment
of the school district or county vocational school district;
���� SEACR is the State average
classification rate for general special education services pupils;
���� AEC is the excess cost for
general special education services pupils;
���� SACR is the State average
classification rate for speech-only pupils; and
���� SEC is the excess cost for
speech-only pupils.
���� For the 2008-2009 through
2010-2011 school years the State average classification rate shall be 14.69%
for general special education services pupils and 1.897% for speech-only
pupils.� For subsequent school years, the State average classification rates shall
be established in the Educational Adequacy Report.
���� For the 2008-2009 school year
the excess cost shall be $10,898 for general special education services pupils
and $1,082 for speech-only pupils.� The excess cost amounts shall be adjusted
by the CPI in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years as required pursuant to
subsection b. of section 4 of this act.� For subsequent school years, the
excess cost amounts shall be established in the Educational Adequacy Report,
with the amounts adjusted by the CPI for each of the two school years following
the first school year to which the report is applicable.
(cf: P.L.2007, c.260, s.9)
���� 2.��� Section 13 of P.L.2007,
c.260 (C.18A:7F-55) is amended to read as follows:
���� 13.� a.� Special education
categorical aid for each school district and county vocational school district
shall be calculated as follows:
����
SE = (RE x SEACR
x AEC x 1/3) x GCA
where
���� RE is the resident enrollment
of the school district or county vocational school district;
���� SEACR is the State average
classification rate for general special education services pupils;
���� AEC is the excess cost for
general special education services pupils; and
���� GCA is the geographic cost
adjustment as developed by the commissioner
, except that GCA shall not be
less than 1.0 for any county
.
For the 2008-2009 school year the
excess cost shall be $10,898 for general special education services pupils.�
The excess cost amount shall be adjusted by the CPI in the 2009-2010 and
2010-2011 school years as required pursuant to subsection b. of section 4 of
this act.� For subsequent school years, the excess cost amount shall be
established in the Educational Adequacy Report, with the amount adjusted by the
CPI for each of the two school years following the first school year to which
the report is applicable.��
���� b.��� Extraordinary special
education aid for an individual classified pupil shall be available when the
student is educated in a general education classroom, special education
program, including but not limited to a resource program or special class
program, or any combination of general education and special education programs
and services, subject to the requirements and thresholds set forth in this
section.
���� (1)�� In those instances in
which a pupil is educated in an in-district public school program with
non-disabled peers, whether run by a public school or by a private school for
the disabled, and the cost of providing direct instructional and support
services for an individual classified pupil exceeds $40,000, for those direct
instructional and support services costs in excess of $40,000 a district shall
receive extraordinary special education State aid equal to 90% of the amount of
that excess in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (4) of this
subsection.
���� (2)�� In those instances in
which a pupil is educated in a separate public school program for students with
disabilities and the cost of providing direct instructional and support
services for an individual classified pupil exceeds $40,000, for those direct
instructional and support services costs in excess of $40,000 a district shall
receive extraordinary special education State aid equal to 75% of the amount of
that excess in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (4) of this
subsection.
���� (3)�� In those instances in
which a pupil is educated in a separate private school for students with
disabilities and the tuition for an individual classified pupil exceeds
$55,000, for tuition costs in excess of $55,000 a district shall receive
extraordinary special education State aid equal to 75% of the amount of that
excess in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (4) of this subsection.
���� (4)�� Extraordinary special
education State aid for an individual classified pupil shall be calculated as
follows:
���� EA = ((ADC-$40,000) x .90) +
(((AIC - $40,000) + (ASC - $55,000)) x .75)
where
���� ADC equals the district's
actual cost for the direct instructional and support services in an in-district
public school program as set forth in paragraph (1) of this subsection;
���� AIC equals the district's
actual cost for direct instructional and support services in a separate public
school program as set forth in paragraph (2) of this subsection; and
���� ASC equals the district's
actual cost for tuition paid to a separate private school as set forth in
paragraph (3) of this subsection.
���� (5)�� The receipt of
extraordinary special education State aid for an individual classified pupil
shall be conditioned upon a demonstration by the district that the pupil's
Individualized Education Plan requires the provision of intensive services,
pursuant to factors determined by the commissioner.
���� c.���� In order to receive
funding pursuant to this section, a district 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.
���� d.��� 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 or $55,000, as applicable.�
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.
���� e.���� 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 Plan.
���� f.���� The commissioner shall
commission an independent study of the special education census funding
methodology to determine if adjustments in the special education funding
formulas are needed in future years to address the variations in incidence of
students with severe disabilities requiring high cost programs and to make
recommendations for any such adjustments.� The study and recommendations shall
be completed by June 30, 2010.
���� g.��� A school district may
apply to the commissioner to receive additional special education categorical
aid if the district has an unusually high rate of low-incidence disabilities,
such as autism, deaf/blindness, severe cognitive impairment, and medically fragile.�
In applying for the aid the district shall: demonstrate the impact of the
unusually high rate of low-incidence disabilities on the school district budget
and the extent to which the costs to the district are not sufficiently
addressed through special education aid and extraordinary special education
aid; and provide details of all special education expenditures, including
details on the use of federal funds to support those expenditures.
(cf: P.L.2007, c.260, s.13)
���� 3.��� Section 14 of P.L.2007,
c.260 (C.18A:7F-56) is amended to read as follows:
���� 14.� Security categorical aid
for each school district and county vocational school district shall be
calculated as follows:
����
SA = ((RE x $70)
+ (ARENR x ARSA)) x GCA
where
���� RE means the school district's
or county vocational school district's resident enrollment;
���� ARENR means the district's
number of at-risk pupils;
���� ARSA means the at-risk
security amount; and
���� GCA is the geographic cost
adjustment as developed by the commissioner
, except that GCA shall not be
less than 1.0 for any county
.
For the 2008-2009 through 2010-2011
school years the at-risk security amount shall be calculated as follows:
���� for a district in which the
concentration of at-risk pupils is less than 40% of resident enrollment, the
at-risk security amount shall equal the district's (AR% x $10.15 x 100); and
���� for a district in which the
concentration of at-risk pupils is equal to or greater than 40%, the at-risk
security amount shall equal $406.
The security cost coefficients,
$70, $10.15 and $406, used to determine the security amount, shall be adjusted
by the CPI in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years as required pursuant to
subsection b. of section 4 of this act.� For subsequent school years, the cost
coefficients shall be established in the Educational Adequacy Report, with
adjustments by the CPI for each of the two school years following the first
school year to which the report is applicable.
(cf: P.L.2007, c.260, s.14)
���� 4.��� This act shall take
effect immediately and shall first apply to the 2018-2019 school year.
STATEMENT
���� This bill amends the �School
Funding Reform Act of 2008� (SFRA), P.L.2007, c.260, to require that the
county-level geographic cost adjustment (GCA) established by the Department of
Education is greater than or equal to 1.0 for all counties.� The purpose of the
GCA is to reflect differences in the cost of providing educational services
that are outside the control of the district and consequently leads to
increases in State aid in some districts and decreases in others.� Under
current law, 12 counties, Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland,
Gloucester, Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic, Salem, Sussex, and Warren Counties, have
a GCA of less than 1.0.