|
Brick Township Not Among 55 Communities To Receive Autism Grants
By Catherine Snipe
Brick Township, once a place studied for autism clusters, received no autism-related funds from the state, according to figures released last week.
While the state Department of Education handed out $15 million in autism grant money, Brick received zero of those dollars.
Township officials shook their heads in disbelief at the news Brick will receive no autism funds from the state grant program.
Council President Stephen Acropolis turned to Business Administrator Scott Pezzares and encouraged him to find out more from those deciding where the autism funding goes. He wants an answer as to why the funding wasn't awarded to Brick and would like to know if other sources of funding are available.
"Was it something with the paperwork? We'll find out," Acropolis said. The school district is also following up with state officials for more information.
About 250 districts competed for the money. Those applications were scored based on need, budget, project description and activities for the program.
Of those, 55 school districts throughout the state received state funding, according to the state Department of Education.
The funds are to expand or enhance public school programs and services for students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.
The state grant comes as part of Gov. Jon S. Corzine' Initiative on Autism in the 2007 state budget.
Three categories spread the money out state-wide: $8 million for new public school programs specifically designed for students with autism; $5 million for public school programs that wanted to expand their existing programs to serve more students; and $2 million for existing public programs.
The largest amount of funding via the state grant went to Nutley, in Essex County. The township received $700,000 in funds to establish new programs. A bulk of the funding went to districts to create programs, with a total 22 awards for $8 million.
Nearby to Brick, Toms River also received zero dollars from the state grant. School districts in Lakehurst and Southern Regional received money to create new autism programs.
Berkeley and Lacey Township school districts won funding to enhance existing programs.
Residents spoke out about the lack of funding to Brick at a recent council meeting, wondering why a township with a studied autism cluster would be left out of the funding loop.
In 1999, Brick was studied as to whether a so-called "autism cluster" existed. The Centers for Disease Control, and the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry came to Brick to look into why 40 cases of autism appeared in the township. U.S. health officials said that was about 10 times above average.
In New Jersey, approximately 7,400 children between the ages of 5 and 21 have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, according to the state. Individuals with autism have marked deficits in attention, imitation, communication, socialization and motivation - skills that are the foundation for early education. Many districts have seen notable increases in the number of students with autism in recent years, and that is one reason why Corzine pushed for the new grant in the coming budget.
The grant is a 15-month one, designed to increase the number of public program options available to students with autism, encourage districts to work together to develop cross-district programs and to have more autistic students learn in their home districts instead of bussing to specialized programs, according to the state.
| 
