After nearly two weeks, Gov. Phil Murphy has signed a bill letting nearly 9,000 students with disabilities remain in state learning programs.

It is a move that could cost up to $600 million in stimulus funding.

The students were not able to attend those learning programs in person because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were facing a June 30 deadline where some of them would have aged out. The programs are only available to students who are under 21 years old.

The governor explained his delay in signing the bill.

"We just want to make sure that with every single bill, that we vet it completely, we review it completely, understand it completely,” he said. "It's a lot of money, but frankly, on this one, there's no amount of money that we shouldn't be willing to throw at these folks."

The state Senate first passed a version of the bill in March. The Assembly unanimously passed a new version of the bill on May 20 and the Senate did the same on June 3.