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Yesterday, I met with a delegation of South Jersey School Superintendents
to discuss a variety of issues pertaining to the quality of education in
our area. We discussed some of the benefits of a new federal law,
H.R. 1, which I helped to write that will help school districts afford
the cost of improved math and science programs as well as Pre-Kindergarten
Education programs for three and four year olds. As I explained in
our meeting, my office stands ready to work with these school districts
to tap into the new federal funding provided by this law.
One glaring problem that we discussed was the shortage in federal funding
available for special education, which has placed a tremendous burden on
homeowners who are forced to pay higher property taxes. In 1974,
Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),
guaranteeing a high quality education to special needs students. The Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires public primary and secondary
schools to provide necessary special-education services to children with
disabilities. That law also promised that the federal share of special
education costs would be forty percent. Unfortunately, the federal share
falls short of that promise.
While we were successful in increasing the federal share of IDEA funding,
we were unable to convince a majority of the Members in Congress to increase
the federal share to the previously guaranteed 40%. Despite this
fact, I believe that that school districts will benefit tremendously from
other provisions of this new federal law. I will continue, however,
to work in the Congress to fight to increase the federal share of IDEA
funding to help relieve our communities' property tax burden. |
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