Who we are and what we do

 They are public education agencies  Created under Title 18A Education Law  18A:6-51 et seq.  Governed by the member school districts that created them  Operated within the guidelines of the NJDOE 1

The mission of the Middlesex Regional Educational Services Commission is to provide excellence to students in partnership with New Jersey school districts, and coordinate cost efficient purchasing opportunities for educational institutions and government agencies to limit the tax burden on New Jersey residents. 2

 Started in 1977 to serve Middlesex County School Districts  Quickly expanded into the central region of the State for the provision special education programs  Name changed to Middlesex Regional ESC with State Board approval in 2005  Became a Statewide entity with the expansion of the cooperative pricing system 3

 To Provide Nonpublic Services  What services do we provide?  Chapter 192/193 (1977)  Nonpublic Textbook (1987)  Nonpublic Nursing (1991)  Nonpublic Technology 1994)  Title One (1989)  Title III (1989)  IDEA-B (1990) 4

The MRESC operates seven special education schools for students with Multiple Disabilities, Pre-School Disabled students, Students with Autism, Student with Behavioral Disabilities, Students with Psychiatric Issues and “At Risk” students. Raritan Valley Academy – Opened 1982 Piscataway Regional Day School – Opened 1984 Middlesex County Academy – Opened 1994 Academy Learning Center – Opened 1996 Bright Beginnings Learning Center – Opened 1998 NuView Academy – Opened 2000 Center for Lifelong Learning – Opened 2009 Approximately 800 students are enrolled within these programs. These programs realized tuition savings of over 20 million dollars in FY

 We currently transport over 14,000 students per day, mainly in the central region of the State  We transport to over 273 schools  We operate over 1100 routes per day  We work with over 67 districts in 12 Counties  We work with over 80 bus companies  Estimated Transportation Savings: $2,500,000 annually 6

 Over 880 members in all 21 NJ Counties  Over 80 different contracts  Over 200 different vendors  Saving millions of taxpayer dollars every year  CDW-G Technology, Supplies & Services FY 14 & 15 savings to date $18,614,000  Electric Aggregation Savings since 2009 $12.5 Million  Natural Gas Aggregation Savings since 2012 $5.1 Million Established in 1994  The Co-op Initiative was implemented Statewide in

 Five types of cooperative purchasing systems exist under the law:  Cooperative Pricing Systems  Joint Purchasing Systems  Commodity Resale  County Purchasing Systems  Regional Cooperative Pricing Systems 8

 Cooperative purchasing systems are created under N.J.S.A. 40A  They are controlled by N.J.A.C. 5:34-7 et seq.  Educational Services Commissions are specifically authorized to establish cooperative purchasing programs N.J.A.C. 5:  Public Schools Contract Law is controlling when an ESC is lead agency N.J.A.C. 5:

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 Cooperative purchasing systems are formed by application to the Department of Community Affairs, Division of Local Government Services  All members must be submitted and approved by LGS  All purchasing categories must be submitted and approved by LGS 12

 Fiscal Year $90,000,000  Fiscal Year 2015 Current Budget - $93,000,000  MRESC is funded on a fee for service basis  No Federal, State or Local revenues are received  We have long-term contracts with participating districts for educational services  With regard to non-educational services, our end users who are unhappy with our services may choose to seek another services provider 13

 Annual budgets are submitted to NJDOE for review and approval  Annual CAFR is prepared and submitted to NJDOE  We operate under the same reporting rules as any school district does 14

 The MRESC budget is made up of 16 cost centers  Each cost center generates revenue to support the services provided  Nonpublic revenue supports nonpublic services  Special education tuition supports the program generating the revenue  Transportation revenue supports transportation services 15

 Revenues generated by non-educational services  Revenues are used to offset administrative costs  Revenues are used to offset business operations costs 16

 Revenues are used in support of educational programs  Purchase of new technology equipment  Purchase of vans for the Community Based Instruction program  Purchase of student management software  Purchase of Hybrid Learning program  Offset other expenses to reduce tuition increases 17

 All public agencies can benefit from cooperative purchasing  Volume drives down prices  A large member base creates a sense of opportunity for vendors  Shrinking budgets make the time savings important  Public agencies should work together to save taxpayers dollars 18

 Continued expansion of our Nonpublic Programs, Transportation Program, Special Education Programs, and our Deaf/Itinerant Education Program  Expansion of technology based programs  Continued expansion of cloud based educational services  Continue to respond to the needs of our member and non-member agencies 19

 Implementation and Expansion of our Hybrid Learning Initiative  Provision of educational services across the Statewide WAN being developed as part of the DRLAP program  Continue to expand non-educational business services as requested by other public agencies  Continue our partnership with NJDOE to expand modern educational opportunities 20

 Mark J. Finkelstein, Superintendent - MRESC  Patrick M. Moran, Business Administrator - MRESC 21