Official Site of The State of New Jersey

Funding for preschool students with disabilities is calculated separately from the Preschool Education Aid (PEA) calculation for general education preschool students. All preschool students with disabilities, regardless of whether they are in general education classrooms or self-contained settings, are included in resident enrollment in the calculation of the district’s K–12 base aid for elementary students as well as special education funding. For preschool disabled students, the school district receives the elementary base aid amount (including costs for at-risk, LEP, and special education students) according to the district’s state share in the form of equalization aid and special education categorical aid and security aid for each preschool disabled student enrolled.

Each year, PEA is calculated based on the district’s projection of general education preschool students for a given school year. The projected number of general education preschool students is multiplied by the county per pupil amounts established in the School Funding Reform Act of 2008. In the former Abbott districts, this amount is then compared to the district’s 2008-2009 PEA amount (after enrollment adjustment) and to the district’s projected number of general education preschool students multiplied by the district’s 2008-2009 preschool per pupil amount.

For the former Abbott districts, the highest of these three calculations is the district’s PEA amount. For all districts, PEA is intended to fund the cost of serving only the general education students in the district’s preschool program.

Since all funding for preschoolers with disabilities is provided separately from PEA, when budgeting for classrooms that include both general education and inclusion students, K–12 base aid funding provided for preschool students with disabilities must be combined with PEA in order to cover the full general education cost of those classrooms. Without this funding for inclusion students, the district is using PEA to fund more students than it is intended to fund, thus diluting funding for the preschool program.

There are three categories of preschool children which are funded by the various state aids discussed above. The budgeting and accounting guidance for each category is included below.

In summary, districts receiving PEA should account for the full cost of the general education portion of the preschool program in the special revenue fund, fund 20. The costs to educate self-contained preschool disabled students and the cost of support services needed for preschool disabled students served in general education classrooms should be accounted for in the applicable special education cost centers of the general fund.