SOURCE
05-08-09

New Jersey's Department of Children and Families (DCF) has announced plans to close 18 regional day schools for disabled and troubled kids by June 2010, including one in Gloucester County.

DCF Commissioner Kimberly Ricketts told the Assembly Budget Committee this week that the decision was not based on economics but on declining enrollment and the department's desire to focus on its core mission of child protection. When children transfer to county or local districts, she said, tuition money would follow them.

Currently, DCF provides year 'round education and support to special-needs children and young adults ages 3 through 21. According to the DCF Web site, the "severity or uniqueness" of their needs requires removal from the public school setting.

Of the 560 students currently enrolled, 248 are said to have "severe disabilities," some of which are physical in nature, requiring constant care. The question posed by parents and legislators is whether local school districts are any better prepared to handle these children than they were in the past. It does not appear to have been answered sufficiently.

Other than those who are severely disabled, DCF students probably could be integrated into other alternative programs operated by local districts and nonprofit agencies. DCF, for example, is charged with educating children with moderate learning disabilities, those who are pregnant or parenting, and abandoned or homeless students with no district of residence.

DCF also operates some unique residential schools that will not close. But in several of these categories, it may be duplicating other services. If the regional schools close, more than 500 employees would lose jobs, but Ricketts expects many to be hired by local districts.

It's appropriate for the Department of Children and Families to transfer educational services to the Department of Education. It's not appropriate, however, to dump about 250 students with highly individualized needs onto unprepared local districts. It's not at all clear that local districts can provide equivalent services, or that the costs won't be higher when they try.

The Legislature and the public deserve more information about the regional schools and the children they serve before DCF shuts them down.