SB 428 - This act revises the distribution of state aid for special education services.

Funding for special education summer school, homebound special education services and special education services provided by the Division of Youth Services shall be adjusted annually by the same proportion as overall funding for special education changes.

Currently, Exceptional Pupil Aid is provided based upon the number of special education teachers and professional and paraprofessional staff. The act provides that, as appropriations allow, the overall fraction of Exceptional Pupil Aid distributed based upon teachers and staff shall be reduced to fifty percent, and the remaining fraction, up to fifty percent, shall be distributed based upon the number of eligible pupils in the district. This distribution formula shall be phased in, as appropriations allow, until fifty percent of Exceptional Pupil Aid is distributed based upon teachers and staff and fifty percent is distributed on eligible pupils. State aid for teachers and staff shall include payment for staff working under contract.

No district shall receive less state aid for special education services under the act than it received in the year preceding the year in which distribution of aid based upon eligible pupils begins.

The act increases the allowable fraction of state reimbursement for special education services for children ages three to five years from seventy-seven percent to ninety percent.

The act allows state reimbursement for costs of approved remedial reading programs at up to ninety percent.

The act maintains the allowable state reimbursement for costs of instructional personnel and special materials for gifted education programs at seventy-five percent.

OTTO FAJEN