Coalition's Comment #297F4C

COMMENTS ON PROPOSED FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY RULES (N.J.A.C. 6A: 23A)AS THEY PERTAIN TO SPECIAL EDUCATIONPublic Hearing: June 10, 2009Good evening. I am Brenda Considine, Chairperson of the New Jersey Coalition for SpecialEducation Funding Reform. We are a broad-based group comprised of major statewide specialeducation advocacy organizations. Our members include The Arc of New Jersey; Autism NewJersey (formerly COSAC); The Alliance for the Betterment of Citizens with Disabilities; TheAssociation for Children of New Jersey; ASAH (formerly the Association of Schools andAgencies for the Handicapped); The Education Law Center; Disability Rights New Jersey(formerly New Jersey Protection and Advocacy); and SPAN, The Statewide Parent AdvocacyNetwork, and the Special Education Leadership Council. The Rutgers Law Clinic and the NewJersey Special Education Practitioners have also supported our advocacy work.As you may know, special education parents and other advocates, including the Coalition and itsmembers, actively opposed many of the provisions of the draft rules currently in effect. Inresponse to this opposition, the New Jersey Assembly Education Committee held a three-and-a-half-hour roundtable discussion on this topic in February, only to be followed two months laterby a five-hour hearing of the Joint Committee on Public Schools. At both meetings, lawmakersand leaders from the Department listened as parents and advocates shared concerns about thecode adopted ...