New Jersey offering extra year of school to special education students because of COVID-19 pandemic

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Special education teacher using stimulus check to make masks for his students

Special education teacher Ruben Caceres explains what he's doing with his stimulus money.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill Wednesday that will give an extra year of special education services to students with disabilities who have experienced learning loss due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The new law will affect students who would otherwise turn 21 and age out of the state's educational system over the next three years. 

"We recognize the pandemic has been especially hard on the roughly 8,700 students this will impact and who have may not have the full set of transitional skills and job training that they need for adulthood," Murphy said at a COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday. "I am pleased to take this step to help secure a better future for them and their families."

RISKS GROW FOR SPECIAL ED STUDENTS AS REMOTE CLASSES STRETCH INTO NEW YEAR

New Jersey will use funds from the American Rescue Plan to fund the extra year of special education. 

"It could be up to $600 million. So be it," Murphy said Wednesday. "This is one of these things where we take the step regardless of the price tag because it is absolutely, without question and hesitation, the right thing to do."

Democratic state senator Dawn Addiego applauded the action Wednesday, saying that the bill "is about hope and a belief that all children should have the opportunity to achieve their potential."

Autism Speaks, a nonprofit that advocates for those with disabilities in the state, also praised Murphy for signing the bill. 

"The many parents who passionately advocated for this legislation are breathing a sigh of relief for the chance to reclaim these critical missed services," said Dr. Suzanne Buchanan, Autism New Jersey executive director.

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Lawmakers in at least five other states – Illinois, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania – have introduced similar legislation that would give extra schooling to special education students, according to Chalkbeat.