on use of special ed. aid
By vincent todaro
Staff Writer
EAST BRUNSWICK — Board of Education members debated last week how they should use $211,947 the district has received in state extraordinary aid.
The board ultimately voted 5-2 at its Aug. 29 meeting to use the money to make up for a shortfall in employee benefits payments. However, two board members, Patrick Sirr and Michael Danatos, voted against the appropriation, saying the money was awarded for special education expenses and should be used accordingly.
Danatos said he believes every dollar earmarked for special education should be spent on special education.
"Now we’re turning around and doing something else, and I think that’s why we have a credibility gap with the public," he said.
Superintendent of Schools Jamie P. Savedoff said the district already used funds from other areas of the budget to cover a shortfall in the special education portion of the school budget. Therefore, using the state aid to make up for the lack of benefits funding was only a matter of simple accounting.
Danatos said however that the board has told the public it does not spend special education dollars on anything but special education, and that he is opposed to the way the district was doing its accounting by addressing one shortfall, the health benefits, with money from another area.
"We’re getting reimbursed from the state for extra (special education) expenses, and we’re spending it on something else," he said.
Sirr said the district should hold the $211,947 in state aid in the special education fund for the upcoming school year’s special education costs.
The money was awarded to reimburse the district for some of last school year’s special education costs.
"I think this is cleaner and makes more sense," Sirr said of keeping the money in the special education fund.
School Business Administrator Bernardo Giuliana said the district would have to go into its surplus account to get the money for the employee benefits if it did not use the state aid.
Board President Michael Baker said all money earmarked for special education is spent on it, and that this situation is a matter of addressing an accounting issue.
Savedoff said the issue only points to a larger problem, however — the fact that the state only funded 50 percent of district’s extraordinary aid requests this year. And furthermore, the $211,947 represents only about 21 percent of what East Brunswick asked for in special education aid, he said.
The shortfall in state funding has officials in numerous districts searching for needed funds.
"People are up in arms about this," he said.
Savedoff called the lack of full state aid "unconscionable," and said districts need more information on the formula the state used to determine how much it would fund. He said a class action lawsuit by school districts is a possibility.
East Brunswick asked the state for roughly $970,000 to help with extra expenses for special education students, the superintendent said. Last year, it received about $763,000, which is almost $500,000 more than this year’s assistance.
If one special education student costs the district more than $40,000 to educate in a given year, the state is supposed to reimburse the district for the difference, Sirr said.
Savedoff said next year the state is expected to fund the full amounts.
"Hopefully, we will see an increase in these dollars," he said.
The superintendent said all the money required for special education is used for it.
"A judge would tell us to take money from A and put it into B to fund special education if we didn’t," he said.

