Advocates and school districts are urging the NJ Commissioner of Education not to adopt draft Abbott regulations, contending they undermine the NJ Supreme Court’s landmark preschool rulings. Education Law Center, Association for Children of New Jersey, Early Childhood Coalition of New Jersey, and several districts submitted comments on the regulations, underscoring the conflicts with the Abbott v. Burke rulings.

The draft regulations, which would govern implementation of the Abbott preschool program in 2005-06, undermine Abbott by:

• Eliminating guidance on what a district is required to include in its pre-k plan
• Eliminating the requirement that a district’s preschool program be based on comprehensive, needs-based planning
• Eliminating the requirement that a district have a plan to achieve full enrollment in the preschool program
• Diluting the mandate that Abbott districts "reach and maintain a preschool enrollment of 90 percent of the universe" to require only that "districts reach the target preschool enrollment of 90 percent"
• Allowing NJDOE to consider "historical enrollment trends and the school district’s ability to reach the target enrollment" to establish projections and determine the need for additional classroom space
• Allowing NJDOE to arbitrarily cap funding at the level of 15 classrooms not filled to capacity, if approved projected enrollment exceeds the actual enrollment of the previous year
• Reducing the role of the "community and parent involvement specialist" from a mandated position in every district to one NJDOE will fund only if "documented as needed"
• Eliminating the requirement that a district develop a "preschool teaching staff professional development plan" with each community childcare provider
• Eliminating the requirement that the district preschool intervention and referral team work with parents

Advocates, providers and other education stakeholders should continue to urge Education Commissioner Librera to rewrite the regulations to comply with Abbott, seek input from stakeholders, and attempt to reach consensus on the rules before they are adopted. Please forward comments to:

For more information, contact ELC attorney Ellen Boylan at 973-624-1815, ext. 18, or e-mail at eboylan@edlawcenter.org.

Prepared: August 12, 2005

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