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OAL DKT.
NOS. EDU 03246-01S, EDU 04029-99S, EDU 04030-99S, EDU 04113-99S,
EDU 04436-99S, EDU 05356-99N, EDU 05358-99N, EDU 05799-99N, EDU
05804-99N, EDU 05873-99N, EDU 07157-99N, EDU 07158-99N, EDU 07456-99N,
EDU 07914-00N, EDU 09462-00N
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The
record before me does not include any evidence that would allow
for a decision as to whether
the Friddell representation of enrollment figures or the Barnett
figures are more reliable indicators
of the percentage of possible students in a district
who are being served. Indeed, to the extent that their calculations
differ in part due to differences
in the formula used to determine the preschool population, there
is no regulation controlling
this calculation and it may be that both methods are reasonable.
It is clear that where the Department
has reasonable evidence that the enrollment in a
district is below 50%, it must enforce its regulation strictly,
demanding that districts with
low enrollment, as defined by the regulation, take immediate and
vigorous steps to determine
the reasons for limited enrollments and identify the same to the
DOE, so that the plans to increase
such enrollments, the development of which the DOE must equally
insist upon, can be expeditiously
reviewed, critiqued and, as appropriate, revised and/or
approved, with the necessary funding provided to ensure that the
plan has a reasonable likelihood
of success. In addition, although the Court in Abbott VI appeared
to accept the Commissioner's
method of letting districts rely upon "reliable indicators" to
determine their projected population,
it may be appropriate for the Department to
consider refinements in the regulation, including a definition
of the method to be used for
calculation of the projected preschool population so as to allow
for statistical uniformity and,
additionally, in regards to the determination of "low" enrollments
as relating to triggering of
the need for corrective plans, to take into account the very likely
difference in enrollment rates
for three-year-olds as opposed to four-year-olds, if indeed
it appears that there are significant reasons to anticipate that
even with appropriate outreach
and recruitment these numbers will reflect significant differences
which may skew the overall enrollment
figures and, perhaps, not allow the overall figure to truly
reflect a district's performance in achieving an acceptable enrollment
percentage that
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