he New Jersey School Boards Association’s (NJBSA) goal is to move away from the thought of public education as two separate systems and instead view it as one.
The one public education system, which includes general education and special education, is a continuum of interventions, programs and services that respond to the individual needs of students.
Dr. Lawrence S. Feinsod, executive director of the NJSBA; Dr. Gerald Vernotica, an associate professor at Montclair University and chair of the NJSBA Special Education Task Force; and education officials came together on April 10 at Crossroads Middle School North in South Brunswick to present the 120-page final report by the NJSBA Special Education Task Force titled “A Service, Not a Place.”
“The goal is to reduce special education costs to local school districts without diminishing the quality of needed services,” Feinsod said of the project the task force undertook. “There is a dire need to develop strategies that will maintain quality services without negatively affecting resources for general education programming.”
The task force also included Dr. Leon B. Kaplan, a Lawrence Township Board of Education member; Lynne E. Crawford, a South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education member; Sheli Danksy, a River Edge Board of Education member; Carol Grossi, superintendent of the Hanover Park Regional School District; Michael Lee, a Tabernacle Board of Education member; Irene LeFebvre, a Boonton Township Board of Education member; Charles T. Miller, an East Amwell Board of Education member; and Valerie Wilson, a school business administrator in the Newark School District.
They were supported by John Burns as counsel; Barbara Deveney, executive assistant to general counsel; Frank Belluscio, deputy executive director and director of communications; and John Bulina, president of the NJSBA.
The team began its work in January 2013 by reviewing the state’s current process for funding and providing special education services, studying other states’ methods of financing and delivering special education, identifying cost-efficient strategies to deliver special education and exploring alternative methods of funding.
The task force consulted with more than 25 experts in special education, including representatives of higher education, key personnel in the U.S. and New Jersey departments of education, and special education advocates and practitioners.
The NJSBA released its final report after a special task force made up of school board members and administrators spent more than a year researching, collecting data and consulting with experts.
The group deliberated over strategies that would enable schools to control costs while still meeting their obligation to provide a free and appropriate public education to all students. The task force surveyed the literature on the delivery and financing of special education services and explored options that focus on academic achievement.
The report includes 20 recommendations addressing early intervention, literacy, shared services in regional delivery incentives, local initiatives, Medicaid reimbursement, eliminating impediments, transportation, improved district- and state-level data collection and changes in state and federal funding.
The suggested recommendations are as follows:
Early Intervention — The state should develop a multitiered system of supports, such as Response to Intervention and Intervention and Referral Services, or a comparable model providing free access to materials and technical assistance to ensure fidelity to the multitiered process and alignment to the Common Core curriculum.
Funding: Literacy — The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act should allow greater flexibility in the use of funds for supplemental literacy and math programs in more inclusive settings.
Funding: Effective Strategies — In an effort to improve student outcomes and determine adequate funding, the state should identify the resources, programs and delivery models that contribute to improved student performance. In addition, the state should provide technical assistance and funding to promote the implementation of these identified delivery models.
The recommendations also included Board of Education members as key components, since they play a major role in the special education realm. The task force recommended that board members receive training that includes exposure to the legal, fiscal and programmatic aspects of special education to help promote the achievement of all of the students in their districts.
NJSBA officials said the recommendations are for school boards to go over and eventually adopt into their districts.