♪♪ >> From NJ PBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Brianna Vannozzi.

>> Hello, and thanks for joining us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gagas.

Brianna Vannozzi is off.

Coming up in the broadcast, we talk with a GOP lawmaker who's pushing back on the state's World Cup spending plan, plus school funding, and more.

Plus, hear why some parents are calling for an investigation into the state's Office of Special Education.

And later, an autism advocate shares what you should know about those living on the spectrum.

But first, a freight train derailed near Tunnel Yav in North Bergen yesterday around 3 p.m.

North Bergen Mayor Nick Sacco confirmed in a statement that there were no reported injuries.

Now, officials initially thought that a toxic substance called ethyl acetate had spilled from the train car, but later came out with an update that the substance was polyethylene, which does not pose a public safety hazard.

The freight train is owned by a company called CSX that said 13 cars had derailed.

CSX did confirm that one of the cars was carrying ethyl acetate, but there were no hazmat leaks or spills.

Route 3 was closed in both directions as crews investigated the site, but it was reopened for this morning's commute.

Officials say the investigation is still underway.

Just in case you forgot, today is April 15th, Tax Day.

The deadline to file your taxes online is midnight tonight.

Now if you're filing by mail, well that had to be postmarked by today.

If you forgot or just didn't get them done on time, you have until midnight tonight to file an extension.

That'll give you until October 15th to submit.

But even if you do file for that extension, you still have to pay at least 80% of any state taxes you owe by today.

90% of any federal taxes also by today.

That's in order to avoid paying a penalty.

And another reminder, tomorrow is Election Day and the special election for the 11th congressional district seat that was once held by Governor Sherrill.

The major party candidates are Democrat Annalelia Mejia and Republican Joe Hathaway, facing off in what's been a brief but fiery campaign.

There's also an independent candidate on the ballot named Alan Bond.

Now, polls open tomorrow at 6 a.m.

They close at 8 p.m.

If you're voting by mail, your ballot has to be postmarked by April 16th or placed in a secure drop box somewhere in your county.

That's also by 8pm tomorrow.

And a reminder, it could take up to six days to count all the mail-in ballots.

Coming up, one GOP assemblyman is pushing back on Governor Sherrill's proposed tax plan for businesses and on proposals for World Cup spending.

That's next.

Funding for NJ Spotlight News provided by the members of the New Jersey Education Association.

Making public schools great for every child.

With a Democratic supermajority in Trenton, GOP lawmakers are using the budget process as a way to highlight their fiscal concerns and goals under this new administration.

Questioning everything from school funding to the governor's proposed business tax plan.

Assemblyman Michael Inganamort has been vocal on both of those points and he joins us now as part of our Under the Dome series.

Assemblyman thanks for being with us.

Good to talk to you today.

Likewise.

Thanks for having me.

You recently questioned treasurer Aaron Binder in a hearing asking him about Governor Sherrill's proposed business tax plan.

Just break down what some of your concerns are when it comes to gross revenue versus net.

You know two small words.

Tremendous impact for small businesses particularly as they are evaluating the size of their profit or income- and what concerns me most about the governor's proposal in this regard is that she would gauge the eligibility of a small business for various deductions and the opportunity to carry forward losses.

Based on their gross revenue.

Well as I explain to the treasurer gross revenue- frankly gives you an inflated sense of the business's profitability.

I use the example of a gas station that the average independent family owned small gas station in New Jersey has a gross revenue last year of around three point six million dollars.

Three point two million of that goes right out the door to pay for the fuel that they are selling.

So most gas stations in the state of New Jersey and small businesses in the retail and restaurant space have high margins, excuse me, high volume, very thin margins.

And thus I'm really concerned that the governor would evaluate these businesses based on gross revenue and in many cases make them no longer eligible for various business deductions.

During the hearing, the treasurer seemed to be open to working with you.

Have you had any follow-up conversations?

Does it seem like this administration is willing to reconsider that plan?

To be determined, we did have a nice exchange.

It was substantive.

It was based on facts.

It gives me hope that when I come down here to Trenton and present an argument that is clear and articulated based on facts and numbers and specific examples, we can maybe start to change minds here in the statehouse.

So we are anticipating having additional conversations with the treasurer.

He did open the door to changing this policy, which would very have a very harmful impact on small businesses throughout New Jersey.

Yeah, just quickly, what would those harms be as you see it?

Well, it would make many small businesses no longer able to carry forward their losses above the million dollar mark.

million dollars sounds like a lot of money to you and me.

But as I just explained if you're a small business with very high volume but thin margins which is especially true in the retail space among restaurants among gas stations I'll use that example again.

You're being judged frankly unfairly on a metric that is totally disconnected from your actual net income which is how we describe profitability.

So we come back to that central thesis which is that gross income and net income are two dramatically different things.

We should evaluate a business's profitability and eligibility for various tax deductions based on their net income certainly not the gross income.

Let's take a look at school funding.

You've been a vocal critic of the Newark public schools.

You sent a letter along with some of your colleagues to the U.S.

Department of Education asking for oversight of some of their COVID relief spending.

I spoke with Superintendent Roger Leone earlier this week.

I asked him about this.

He said, look, there was a 2023 audit they uncovered and they looked at everything we did.

And we passed that test and we moved it to the state.

>> And you took issue with the students that were recommended for tutoring.

15,803 students recommended.

Only 1,938 received it.

Where did you get that data?

>> Well, let me say a few things.

Number one, I am critical not of the Newark school district but of its unserious adult leadership that in my opinion is failing the children of Newark.

The taxpayers across New Jersey are taking a hit here as well public school district.

We're seeing flagrant misuse of public taxpayer dollars.

At the end of the day, it's those Newark school children who are being failed by unserious adults running the Newark school district.

The superintendent may say that there is nothing to see here.

The U.S.

Department of Education feels differently.

They have responded to our request to look into this.

That's exactly what they intend to do.

>> So they have indicated that, yes, they will be opening an investigation?

>> They have expressed interest in this issue.

They have expressed interest in the fact that the school They have expressed interest in this issue, and we hope that it leads to something like that.

Nothing about this is punitive.

We are not targeting the Newark School District.

We want to make sure that the public dollars that are going to the Newark School District -- again, around $1.3 billion of Newark's $1.6 billion budget comes from New Jersey state taxpayers outside the city of Newark.

And all of those taxpayers -- every taxpayer in the state of New Jersey should have the confidence that the tax dollars we send to the city of Newark for the Newark School District to help these kids who need a shot are being used in the best and highest way.

Okay we'll see what happens there.

I want to switch gears again look at you sit on the Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee in the Assembly.

We see the World Cup coming to New Jersey.

First you've taken issue with advertising spent here because of the naming.

What's your issue there.

Well it's a big issue and it's not just mine.

I'm sick and tired of handing over the naming rights to these major events we have in the state of New Jersey to New York.

FIFA is calling this the New York New Jersey World Cup at the New York New Jersey Stadium.

It's not.

There's nothing about New York in any of this.

The stadium is in New Jersey.

The games will be played in the state of New Jersey.

And I think New Jersey taxpayers we come back to them yet again because we as legislators have a fiduciary duty to New Jersey's taxpayers.

If we're going to commit twenty six million dollars of New Jersey taxpayer money to advertise the World Cup the least we can do is call it the New Jersey World Cup or the New Jersey Stadium.

That does not seem to be happening.

Doesn't look like it's going to happen.

Do you think that of course this is not a solid plan but we've heard rumblings that there could be $100 NJ Transit ticket prices if you're going back to New York for any ticket holders to the games.

Governor Sherrill has not confirmed that plan but she did say earlier this week that New Jersey taxpayers can't shoulder the burden of getting people to and from.

Do you agree with raising the ticket prices so that the onus then is on those attendees rather than NJ Transit.

No I don't.

This seems to be the default position.

Raise ticket prices raise the sales tax raise the hotel occupancy fee around and near the World Cup games that are going to be played in the Meadowlands.

That's not the solution here.

New Jersey's got to get its act together because the World Cup is going to be here before you know it.

And if we had a functioning highly functioning and efficient system of public transportation we wouldn't be having these challenges in front of us where the Sherrill administration thinks they can hit some buttons turn some levers allow certain people onto the trains keep others off.

That's no way to manage this volume of people.

What should that what should that look like.

What what would you like to see those ticket prices set at.

The ticket price to ride the train.

If you're a ticket holder they've increased the price similar to what other states that are hosting the games are doing so that they are essentially subsidizing some of the costs that are incurred onto NJ Transit for that commute?

None of this would be necessary if we had a functioning and highly efficient public transportation system.

I will say however I am far more concerned about the New Jersey residents who need and want to use public transportation before, during, and after these games.

To prohibit New Jerseyans who pay through their state tax pay, tax dollars for the New Jersey transit system, they have every right to ride those trains before, during and after the games.

And we know there's a proposal to stop any traffic out from New York to New Jersey for four hours before every game.

That also isn't finalized.

But very quickly, proposal to raise the sales tax here in the state 3% in and around the space where the games will be played.

Right or wrong?

It's wrong.

And it's a clear contradiction of what Governor Sherrill promised on the campaign trail last year when she said the sales tax would be off the table.

Equally worrisome to me, however, is the increase in the hotel occupancy fee, which extends far beyond the Meadowlands, including to areas I represent in northwestern New Jersey.

I find it unlikely that individuals staying at hotels in northwest Sussex County are there because they are going to a World Cup game, and yet they will be subjected to the same increase in the hotel occupancy fee.

Now the Sheryl administration has said, well, you could write it off on your taxes.

Who's doing that?

Who's doing that?

It's a pain in the rear.

This is unworkable.

This is unnecessarily complicated.

And as I said at the top, it contradicts the governor's promise to not raise taxes.

All right.

We've got to leave it there.

Assemblyman Michael N. Ganimore, thanks for taking the time today.

Great to talk to you.

You too.

Thanks.

Under the Dome is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Parents of kids with intellectual and developmental disabilities face countless hurdles on a daily basis.

But for too many, one of those hurdles is trying to hold accountable the education systems that are tasked with caring for their children.

New Jersey's Department of Education has a division focused specifically on these students.

It's called the Office of Special Education.

It oversees the state's 600 school districts to be sure they're meeting the needs of the 250,000 students enrolled in special ed.

But it doesn't always work out as planned.

Our urban education writer Julie O'Connor took a deep dive into the struggles that many parents have faced in trying to hold their districts accountable.

She's here with us now to talk about it.

Julie welcome to the show.

Thanks for taking a few minutes.

Thanks Joanna.

You took a deep dive into what's happening in the world of special education.

What did you hear from parents about the needs that are going unmet for their kids?

There's a lot of frustration and anger that I heard from parents.

This division of the State Department of Education is supposed to act like a referee.

It's supposed to come in when a parent says that their child is not getting the services that they're entitled to and do an investigation and either rule in favor of the parent or the district.

And the system sounds good on paper, but parents are saying that every day it feels like a broken promise.

They feel like the state either lacks the capacity or the will to effectively advocate for them in situations where legally they feel that they are definitely in the right and, you know, in some cases have gone on to win court cases on that very issue.

Julie, you laid out some powerful examples.

I wonder if you can just give us a couple of just instances where the school either violated a specific education plan or just didn't follow it.

Sure.

One mother I spoke to, her son has severe autism, and she says that the district of Lacey Township denied him legally required home instruction.

And so she called up the Office of Special Education, and she says that she was discouraged from filing a complaint with that office, and instead ended up getting an emergency court order to go appear before a judge and argue against the district's attorney all on her own.

And she won that case.

I spoke to another mother from East Orange who also says that, you know, in her case, she had to fight years in court, wage this epic court battle.

She was staying up till 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock in the morning, researching legal codes just to get the aid that, you know, a judge ultimately ruled her son was entitled to.

You also mentioned a case where there was a boy with a heart condition who was forced to run sprints in his phys ed class simply because they didn't look at the plan, didn't follow the plan.

But perhaps as you were explaining, the bigger failure here isn't just the districts failing to meet the needs of the kids, but these parents are saying when they've reached out for help from this division within special ed, within the Department of Education, they're just not getting the support.

What has that looked like for them?

Right.

I mean, districts, of course, have their own goals here.

You know, they're looking to tamp down on the enormous costs of special education.

And parents say that when they go to the state to complain about services that are denied, there are several key systemic problems.

One, they wonder, is the state actually investigating the broad range of complaints that it's supposed to?

This has been an issue in the past.

Advocates with the Education Law Center got into a dispute with the state about this.

So is it actually happening?

Another issue is that when the state does investigate, it says that it rules in favor of parents more than half the time.

But parents say, well, even if that's the case, the remedy is often left to the district to determine.

You know, the state will say, hold a meeting, figure out what type of services the child is entitled to.

And so how do we ultimately know that the child gets the right services?

Another issue that parents complain about is general lack of transparency.

They can't get a case file that says this is what the district submitted to the state about their child.

So they may not know.

If a district made false claims in the course of the state's investigation, the parent may not find out until after that investigation is concluded.

And then finally, I mean, if someone complains about the state office of special education itself, that investigation is also handled by the state office of special education, that very same agency.

And so parents and advocates and some legislators are calling for an independent investigator to handle complaints like that.

You spoke to them about some other recommendations.

I know one parent told you that they wanted to see, unless things were handled on a systemic basis within the district, it was really treated as a one-off.

Are there other recommendations in terms of how these complaints could or should be filed to kind of add some more teeth to the investigation?

Yeah.

And, you know, the state will do a systemic, a deeper systemic dive, but only if a complaint is specifically filed, you know, as systemic.

And that's something that an advocacy group might think to do.

But in some cases, you know, parents say in the district of Elizabeth may be repeatedly complaining about the same issue like teachers are not reading my child's, you know, individualized education program and, you know, making my child run sprints in gym class even though he has a heart condition.

And that's something that the state generally will investigate case by case.

You know, so parents are also just calling for an investigation of the agency.

They feel that in some cases it's, you know, not looking at the full picture when it's examining their case and others.

Yeah, I did also read that some parents wanted more information on the government website in terms of how to file a complaint.

But again, would that be part of complaining to the same agency that is failing them, or is that again where they want to see an outside investigator?

You can, if you're a parent and the state office of special education rules in favor of the district instead of in your favor, you can ask for what's called a reconsideration.

But for a long time, parents really didn't know how to do that.

They didn't know how to ask for this.

They didn't realize that it was in regulations.

And so they complained about it.

After they formally complained, the state started adding that information to the bottom of its e-mails to parents.

But in general, they feel like there just isn't enough information about their options to follow up and have decisions reviewed again by a more independent investigator.

Just a few seconds left.

Did you find that the state was open and transparent, the department was open and transparent when you reached out for information?

The state answered some questions, but one of the key questions the state would not answer, and that is how many investigators are charged with this task.

And that's an important question because advocates and families are wondering if the state has the capacity to handle this.

I mean, it's easier these days to file complaints with artificial intelligence, and the state has to see days.

So that's the deadline.

All right.

Julie O'Connor, our urban education writer, great reporting on this.

Thanks for bringing it all to light.

Thanks, Joanna.

Autism rates in the U.S.

have reached a record high.

It's now about one in 31 children who are diagnosed on the spectrum, according to a CDC report released last year that evaluated health records of eight year olds across the country.

Here in New Jersey, it's one in twenty nine children, according to Autism New Jersey.

April is Autism Acceptance Month, and our next guest is an advocate, Kari Magro, who has more on what you should know about your neighbors with autism.

- Kari, so great to have you on the show.

You've really become a prominent voice in the autism community, both here in New Jersey and as a consultant on a lot of film and TV shows.

But I wanna just understand your story.

Tell us about your autism journey.

- Sure, so I was diagnosed in 1992 where there was still a lot not known about autism.

It's about one in 1,000 in the US and now it's one in 31.

And growing up, I actually didn't start speaking complete sentences until I was seven.

But my parents found my two key interests, which were basketball and theater.

And that led me to gain a degree in sport management before I decided to change career paths.

And now I've been a full time professional speaker for the past 15 years, using my voice to educate people on autism, neurodiversity and the importance of being empathetic and kind to everyone.

Yeah, those are really great points.

What is it that you want people to know about those with autism?

And of course, we know it's a spectrum and folks present very differently and each situation is unique.

But what do you want folks to know and understand about it?

I think the most important thing is, again, like we're talking about, it is such a huge spectrum.

And just because of that, there are going to be individuals like myself who might not percent to have any symptoms of autism.

But that doesn't mean that I don't go through daily challenges, even as an adult today.

I think it's important that we look.

It's not being kind to someone with autism isn't being a hero.

It's being a decent human being.

I think we just need not only during April, which is Autism Acceptance Month, but all year round to focus more on human decency, especially during this climate.

You said it.

We have come a long way just from even in our lifetime, the understanding and the acceptance of autism.

What do you believe are still some of the misconceptions that exist out there about people with autism?

Oh my God, how much time do you have?

No, I think one of the biggest things is that autistic people lack empathy.

And some autistic people I know are some of the most empathetic people in the world.

Also, this misconception is still around all autism being white males.

I can't tell you how many people just assume autism, even to this day in 2026, is Rain Man or The Good Doctor on ABC.

But those in Black, Hispanic, and Asian communities are diagnosed more often than their white counterparts.

I think we just need to have an honest, open conversation, especially around minorities in our community, but then also girls.

Girls are diagnosed four times less often.

So again, this whole Rain Man, Good Doctor stigma that we sometimes have in the community can be very deterring to so many in our community today.

You have acted as a consultant on the Netflix show Love on the Spectrum, as well as a couple of films, Joyful Noise, Jane Wants a Boyfriend, and then HBO's Mrs.

Fletcher.

Just first, tell us what that consultant work looks like.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I fell in love with theatre when I was a kid, and that actually helped me find my voice from non-speaking to professional speaker.

And one of the biggest things that helped me during that time was understanding that a lot of cast and crew didn't really have a personal connection to autism before going into a film or TV show.

So I got my first big break when I was 23 with Warner Brothers on Joyful Noise, and it's continued for the past 15 years.

I do autism sensitivity trainings on meeting every single crew member and cast member where they are, regardless of they have autism or not, while also getting the opportunity to rewrite scripts, get an opportunity to edit some of the episodes like Love on the Spectrum US to make sure we're touching base on topics that are truly impacting our autism community today because it is such a huge spectrum.

Obviously we follow these individuals on Love on the Spectrum, but how much are you influencing the conversation around it?

Is that what you're saying?

Kind of the broader and bigger, more important conversations around autism?

Yeah, absolutely.

Because unfortunately today in our community, the majority of autistic adults are still unemployed or underemployed.

I go into so many companies and I talk about the ROI benefits of hiring talented autistic people in the workplace.

So being able to break down those really those things are impacting our community.

A lot of autistic people are still having challenges finding relationships.

They're still having trouble with housing once they age out of high school.

And then also guardianship because some autistic people will need 24/7 care for their entire lives.

And their stories matter just as much as us speaking today.

We know that there are a whole ton of, guardianship is a layered issue and we could spend a whole other segment just talking about that alone.

Let me ask you, in this current climate, you know, they say the pendulum swings and sometimes it swings in both directions.

Is there language that you've heard recently that you find concerning when it comes to autism?

Yeah, I think there's still a lot of talk about curing autism in our community.

And what we realized today is that autism is a neurotype.

There's so many individuals in our community, it's not curing someone of having autism.

It's helping an autistic person who's struggling not have to struggle as much.

Because I was that kid, I had severe sensory issues.

I wore noise-canceling headphones for a while when I was growing up.

And that can be really, really challenging for some on the spectrum.

Meltdowns, overload, burnout.

There's so many things that can impact someone with autism.

So deterring from our conversations from CURE in 2026 to the importance of providing reliable autism resources across the lifespan to support our community.

What's your message to parents out there concerned about their kids, wherever they are in the age, wherever they are in the spectrum, and maybe to those kids themselves?

I think the biggest thing, just looking from my journey, where there wasn't a lot of education around autism, your child is the same child they were before the diagnosis as they are after the diagnosis.

They just might have some more resources to help them thrive.

Always treat them as a person first.

Nurture their strengths and for the children who might have autism who are watching this from someone who used to be that kid who had some struggles, pursue your dreams because gain opportunity to work with so many companies around the world, gain opportunity to work in TV and film.

I never expected this to be my life I like to say that autism can't define me and I define autism.

And I can only hope each and every single one of you watching this can go out there and define your lives and your journeys in the way that you best see it every single day of your lives.

Beautifully said.

Kerry Magro, autism self-advocate, professional speaker, thank you so much.

Thanks so much for having me.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gagas for the entire team here at NJ Spotlight News.

Thanks for being with us.

We'll see you back here tomorrow.

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