nj.com

Special education advocates also say Sherrill’s administration needs to consider making major changes to how funding is distributed for students with disabilities. The special education portion of the formula sends too much money to some districts and not enough to others, said Peg Kinsell, director of public policy at SPAN Parent Advocacy Network, an organization that supports families of students in special education. There are almost 250,000 students with disabilities in New Jersey schools. Rather than look at each district’s enrollment numbers for this group, the state’s school funding formula uses a statewide average based on Census data. Last year, Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget used special education enrollment numbers instead of the average to determine how much money to send to each district. But this change is not permanent or part of the law and Kinsell said it didn’t go far enough.