Bill Text: NJ S486 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Clarifies calculation of at-risk weight in school funding formula.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-10 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee [S486 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-S486-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
215th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2012 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator SAMUEL D. THOMPSON
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Clarifies calculation of at-risk weight in school funding formula.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning the calculation of State school aid for at-risk students and amending P.L.2007, c.260.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 9 of P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-51) is amended to read as follows:
9. a. The adequacy budget for each school district and county vocational school district shall be calculated as follows:
AB = (BC + AR Cost + LEP Cost + COMB Cost + SE Census) x GCA
where
BC is the district's or county vocational school district's base cost as calculated pursuant to section 8 of this act;
AR Cost is the cost of providing educational and other services for at-risk pupils as calculated pursuant to subsection b. of this section;
LEP Cost is the cost of providing educational and other services for bilingual education pupils as calculated pursuant to subsection c. of this section;
COMB Cost is the cost of providing educational and other services for pupils who are both at-risk and bilingual as calculated pursuant to subsection d. of this section;
SE Census is the cost of providing programs and services to general special education services pupils and speech-only pupils as calculated pursuant to subsection e. of this section; and
GCA is geographic cost adjustment.
The GCA shall be the geographic cost adjustment developed by the commissioner and revised by the commissioner every five years in accordance with receipt of census data.
b. AR Cost shall be calculated as follows:
AR Cost = BPA x ARWENR x AR Weight
where
BPA is the base per pupil amount;
ARWENR is the weighted enrollment for at-risk pupils of the school district or county vocational school district, which shall not include combination pupils; and
AR Weight is the at-risk weight.
For the 2008-2009 through 2010-2011 school years the at-risk weight shall be as follows:
for a district in which the concentration of at-risk pupils is less than 20% of resident enrollment, the at-risk weight shall equal 0.47;
for a district in which the concentration of at-risk pupils is equal to 20% but less than 60% of resident enrollment, the at-risk weight shall equal the district's ((at-risk % / 100 - 0.20) x 0.25)) + 0.47; and
for a district in which the concentration of at-risk pupils is equal to or greater than 60% of resident enrollment, the at-risk weight shall equal 0.57.
For subsequent school years, the AR weight shall be established in the Educational Adequacy Report.
c. LEP Cost shall be calculated as follows:
LEP Cost = BPA x LWENR x LEP Weight
where
BPA is the base per pupil amount;
LWENR is the weighted enrollment for the bilingual education pupils of the school district or county vocational school district, which shall not include combination pupils; and
LEP Weight is the bilingual pupil weight.
For the 2008-2009 through 2010-2011 school years the LEP weight shall be 0.5. For subsequent school years, the LEP weight shall be established in the Educational Adequacy Report.
d. COMB Cost shall be calculated as follows:
COMB Cost = BPA x CWENR x (AR Weight + COMB Weight)
where
BPA is the base per pupil amount;
CWENR is the weighted enrollment for pupils who are both at-risk and bilingual;
AR Weight is the at-risk weight; and
COMB Weight is the combination pupil weight.
For the 2008-2009 through 2010-2011 school years the COMB weight shall be 0.125. For subsequent school years, the COMB weight shall be established in the Educational Adequacy Report.
e. SE Census shall be calculated as follows:
SE Census = (RE x SEACR x AEC x 2/3) + (RE x SACR x SEC)
where
RE is the resident enrollment of the school district or county vocational school district;
SEACR is the State average classification rate for general special education services pupils;
AEC is the excess cost for general special education services pupils;
SACR is the State average classification rate for speech-only pupils; and
SEC is the excess cost for speech-only pupils.
For the 2008-2009 through 2010-2011 school years the State average classification rate shall be 14.69% for general special education services pupils and 1.897% for speech-only pupils. For subsequent school years, the State average classification rates shall be established in the Educational Adequacy Report.
For the 2008-2009 school year the excess cost shall be $10,898 for general special education services pupils and $1,082 for speech-only pupils. The excess cost amounts shall be adjusted by the CPI in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years as required pursuant to subsection b. of section 4 of this act. For subsequent school years, the excess cost amounts shall be established in the Educational Adequacy Report, with the amounts adjusted by the CPI for each of the two school years following the first school year to which the report is applicable.
(cf: P.L.2007, c.260, s.9)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill modifies the equation for the at-risk weight included in the "School Funding Reform Act of 2008" (SFRA), P.L.2007, c.260. The bill provides that the at-risk percent in the equation used to determine the at-risk weight for districts in which the concentration of at-risk students ranges from 20 percent to 60 percent will be divided by 100.
