Following the September 20th BOE meeting, Professor Hoban posed several questions to the Board, which were answered by the Board President, Carl Fink.
The questions, regarding the budget and other basic questions involving the Lakewood District, will give readers a clearer insight of the happening within the school district, and bring more transparency of the multi-millian dollar budet.
General Budget Questions (2011-2012)
- What was the total school district budget for 2011-2012? $132,937,767
- What amount of this total came from the following
– Federal funding $16,424,467
– State funding $42,042,611
– Lakewood property taxes $70,238,004
– Other $4,232,685
- How many public and non-public school children were in the district? 24,208
- How many children were bused to school and what was the total amount spent for busing? $20,043,341
– Of these children, how many were public school children and how many were non-public school children? Public: 18,488
Nonpublic: 4,497
– Of the total amount spent for busing, how much was spent for busing special-needs students (SNS)? $3,832,721
– Of the funds spent on busing, how much came from each source:
Federal funding ———————
State funding $2,046,594
Lakewood property taxes $17,996,747
Other
- Excluding the funds spent on busing and on special-needs students (SNS), what total funds were spent on each of the public schools during 2011-2012?
– Lakewood High School = $ 13,679,298
– Middle school = $ 7,413,327
– Etc. $19,075,008
Special Education Questions (2011-2012)
- What was the total amount of school district funds spent to meet the needs of special-needs students (SNS) – not counting the cost of busing? How much of this total came from
– Federal funding $34,789,056
– State funding $12,133,347
– Lakewood property taxes $14,272,171
– Other
| GRANTS FY2011 | TOTAL ALLOCATION | PUBLIC AMOUNT | NON PUBLIC AMOUNT |
| IDEA BASIC(FEDERAL) |
$3,912,538 |
$ 802,716 |
$3,109,822 |
| IDEA PRESCHOOL(FEDERAL) |
$252,488 |
$ 57,658 |
$194,830 |
| EXTRODINARY AID(STATE) |
$4,735,625 |
$4,735,625 |
$0 |
| 192/193(STATE) |
$13,852,906 |
$0 |
$13,852,906 |
| SEMI(STATE) |
*$447,334 Approximate total as of 9/1/12 |
*$447,334 Approximate total as of 9/1/12 |
$0 |
| NCLB TITLE 1 |
$8,727,354 |
$5,149,140 |
$3,773,985 |
| AVERAGE STATE FUNDING (Per Student) |
|
|
0 |
| LOCAL TAXES |
|
|
|
- (a) How many district children had an IPE?
(b) How many other children were identified as “educationally disadvantaged” – that is, eligible for remediation tutoring in order to catch-up to grade-level proficiency, (as differentiated from ‘Learning Disabled’ or presenting with a handicapping condition)?
(c) How many of these children (a & b above) were public school students and how many were non-public school students?
| PUBLIC | NON PUBLIC | |
| (a) TOTAL STUDENT WITH IEP |
949 |
0 |
| (b)TOTAL STUDENTS WITH SERVICE PLAN |
0 |
1682 (Not SLP) |
| (c) TOTAL STUDENTS |
949 |
1682 |
- Please indicate the vendor from which these students obtained “special services” and the cost of these services. For example,
– SCHI = 130 children @ 90k = $11.7 million
– Catapult = ___ children @ $____ = $ _____
– Likewise for Tree of Knowledge, STARS, Tender Touch, and all other vendors who supplied Special Ed and related services paid via the District.
FY 2011
| SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOOL (12 Month Program) | PROGRAM FUNDED THROUGH | TOTAL PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS ATTENDING | TUITION RATE PER STUDENT/ EXTRODINARY AID REIMBURSEMENT | AVERAGE TOTAL COST OF PROGRAM |
| SCHI | IDEA GRANT |
137(Prorated start date) |
$91,952-$27,714(Extraordinary Aid Reimbursement) |
$64,238 |
| LEHMAN SCHOOL | DISTRICT |
7 |
$63,990-$6,743(Extraordinary Aid Reimbursement) |
$57,247 |
| OCEAN ACADEMY | DISTRICT |
4 |
$53,312 |
$53,312 |
| ALPHA SCHOOL | DISTRICT |
1 |
$46,802 |
$46,802 |
| REGIONAL DAY | DISTRICT |
5 |
$54,054 |
$54,054 |
| EDUCATIONAL ACADEMY | DISTRICT |
2 |
$43,575 |
$43,575 |
| CHILDREN’S CENTER | DISTRICT |
4 |
$57,196-$1,647(Extraordinary Aid Reimbursement) |
$55,549 |
| KATZENBACH | STATE |
1 |
$87,273-$24,205(Extraordinary Aid Reimbursement) |
$63,068 |
| BANCROFT | DISTRICT |
7 |
$51,059 |
$51,059 |
| NEW ROAD | DISTRICT |
1 |
$50,589 |
$50,589 |
| COASTAL LEARNING CENTER | DISTIRCT |
3 |
$57,196-$1,147(Extraordinary Aid Reimbursement) |
$55,549 |
FY 2011
| SERVICES | CATAPULT | TREE OF KNOWLEDGE | PSYCH ED. | TOTAL STUDENTS SERVICED |
| COMP. ED. | $5,675,466 | $1,861,991 | 0 | 10,233 |
| ESL | $62,650 | $189,851 | 0 | 354 |
| SPEECH | $141,907 | $511,853 | 0 | 2,996 |
| SUPPLEMENTAL | $789,747 | $168,687 | 0 | 1,682 |
| EVALUATIONS | $1,008,864 | 0 | $314,445 | 1,199 |
| ANNUAL EVALS. | $343,480 | 0 | $59,267 | 1,274 |
| STARS (IDEA) |
Of the total district funds spent for special-needs students (not including busing), what % was spent on
– Students who had an IPE
– Other students receiving “special services”
| DISTRICT BUDGET FY2011 | TOTAL ALLOCATION | % OF TOTAL DISTRICT FUNDS SPENT ON STUDENTS WITH IEP- PUBLIC | % OF TOTAL DISTRICT FUNDS SPENT ON RELATED SERVICES |
| DISTRICT GENERAL FUND | $100,776,977 | 2.5% ($2,514,112) | 1.1% ($1,138,945) |
Such easy questions its all public record!!
Who is Professor Hoban?
Question 4 –
Of these children, how many were public school children and how many were non-public school children? Public: 18,488
Nonpublic: 4,497
I think it’s just the opposite
So if my math is correct only 23% of Local taxes go to Special Education. Thank you TLS and Mr. Fink for clarifying the truth.
Thank you Mr. Fink for the data.
I am assuming that the 4,497 on roll includes special education. Therefore, our ratio of special education students to total enrollment is 942/4497=21%. I think we have a strong case that the SFRA unconstitutionally underfunds Lakewood with its census formula of funding only 14.69% of the total enrollment, which comes out to only 661 students. I also believe that if the state would fund us based on the accurate number of students served, more students would opt for a Free and Appropriate Public Education.
I also want to make clear that the $42 million from state sources includes $15 million for pre-school, for which all the kids in Lakewood count. The state still short-changes us by funding our district only about $27 million, which is perhaps relative to our expenses, the lowest amount in the state.
These are not the final numbers.
Professor Hoban pointed this out prior to the release of this document. Professor Hoban pointed out mistakes in the response to his questions, and asked for further clarification on multiple issues.
The question and answer is a work-in-process, and certainly is not a final document.
When the District’s initial answers are corrected, and additional questions are clarified, I believe that Professor Hoban and the District will jointly release a final document.
number of private and public school kids needs to be switched its backwards
To claify #4, of the cost for each child that recives “Special Services” 23% is from local tax $$,
the other 77% of money to educate a “Special Needs Child” comes from State and Federal $$.
Thank you TLS and Mr. Fink for clarifying the facts.
Private and public needs to be switched. Its wrong.
I am sorry #8, but the state really messes us around with special education.
Every SCHI child who opts for a FAPE, which is a constitutional right under the US Equal Protection Clause, is added to the district general enrollment. When it comes to state funding however, the state only funds one seventh of the amount it normally funds other districts since it uses the census formula of 14.69% of total enrollment to determine how many kids a district should be classifying.
So whereas as child in Jackson generates about $11,000 additional funding from the state if he evaluated as special education, each one of our kids that opts for a FAPE in Lakewood generates one-seventh of that amount. Lakewood kids who opt for FAPE come from a pool of 28,000, but the state figures that the pool is only 4,497. Our kids do not count!
Worse yet, since the SFRA was frozen every year except 2003, 2009, and 2013, the newly enrolled child will not even generate the even initial base $10,000 that every regular education kid in public schools generates.
As for the expense of SCHI, the state only picks up 75% of the cost above $55,000. So pretty much almost the whole tab is on local taxpayers.
I will be getting my law license around November or December. My first order of business will be to challenge the census formula as applied to Lakewood under the Thorough and Efficient clause of the NJ constitution.
1. why was the amount paid to stars and where the money comes from left out ?
2. Comparing SCHI to the other schools. SCHI cost per child about 20% more that the special childrens center , and about 50% more than some of the others and on average 35% more . SCHI is also by far the most expensive. if so why are 80% of these children being sent to SCHI ?
3. where are the details about ” self contained class” ? the cost of placement in self contained classes? and who is getting self contained classes ?
the number of public and non public students must have been reversed.
there are 6 public schools, if each had 1,000 students, which is a high estimate, the number would be 6,000. 18,000 plus was the answer given. Hope this was just a number reversal.
When reading the answers to special ed funding when you add the federal state and local amounts received it reaches 60 million. Besides being a very high number in the breakdown of where the money is going it only reaches 32 million a discrepancy of 28 million. I suspect there is some error there most likely in the federal dollars given(Which is probably 3.4 million not 34 million ) which seems very high. If anybody has clarity it would be appreciated