Fact vs Myth #2

Claim: We don’t have a lack of revenue problem; we do have a spending problem

•  For 2023-24: “The District received a total amount of $1,228,968 for preschool expansion award (PEA) funding. However, the District’s requirement to fund preschool is $943,482 for a total budgeted amount of $2,172,450.”

•  For 2024-25: “The District received a total amount of $2,219,912 for preschool expansion funding. However, the District’s requirement to fund preschool is $1,080,658 for a total budgeted amount of $3,300,570.”

  
  

Fact: New Jersey Code N.J.A.C 6A:14, Special Education law, letter d, page 2, requires each district board of education to provide a system of free, appropriate special education and related services to students with disabilities ages three through 21 that shall:

1. Be provided at public expense, under public supervision, and with no charge to the parent;

2. Be administered, supervised, and provided by appropriately certified and qualified professional staff members;

3. Be located in facilities that are accessible to students with disabilities; and

4. Meet all requirements of this chapter.

The District currently has 138 preschool students, 84 of these children are special education three and four-year-old students and are required by the District to receive free, appropriate special education and related services. This is why the District must budget additional funds for preschool services-- the pay for the education of special education preschool students. The preschool expansion award provides funding for regular education preschool students, those students who are not identified as special education students.The District is required to provide free preschool to any student who will have attained the age of three years on or before October 1 of the year in which entrance is sought and has not yet attained the age at which admission to kindergarten is permitted. A child is eligible for entrance into a program of special education who has attained his/her third birthday and has been found by the Child Study Team to be eligible for a program for the preschool disabled in accordance with the rules of the State Board of Education.