School Travel and Accountability Laws, Regulations and Agency Guidance
•School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA) (A-500)
•Uniform Shared Services and Consolidation Act (CORE Legislation) (A-4)
•School District Accountability Act (A-5)
• Establishes Commissioner of Education as the Rule-Making Authority for one year under several school district accountability statutes. (A-2965)
• Final DOE emergency regulations – N.J.A.C. 6A: 23A-1 et seq. implements CORE legislation and SFRA (84 pages)
• Frequently Asked Questions (DOE) on executive county superintendent review of administrator contracts
• Public Employee Benefits Reform (S-17)
•Travel Circular 08-19-OMB
•Travel Circular 06-14-OMB
•Travel Clarification Letter from Commissioner Davy, March 17, 2008
•Travel regulations - Abbott districts: N.J.A.C. 6A:10-2.2.
NJSBA Response to Proposed DOE Regulations
•Emergency Regulations
Travel:

•Cover Letter and Proposed Travel Regulations
Other Provisions:

•Cover Letter

•Proposed Regulations on Accountability, Budget Oversight, Regionalization and Consolidation
Accountability Resources
•Travel FAQ
•Examples: Specific Travel Events
•Restrictions Affect NSBA Conference
•Workshop 2008 Housing Waiver
•Policy 9250 on travel reimbursement
•Legal References 9250 lr
•Sample agenda item - employee travel
•Sample agenda item-board member/trustee travel
•Sample Travel Resolution and Travel Event Chart
•Sample resolution-maximum travel
•Travel report-standardized form
•NJSBA training schedule-Accountability Act
•Sample resolution for public hearing on administrative contract
•Administrators Contract Checklist
•NJQSAC: A New Monitoring System for Our Schools - Find Out More
 
For legal questions, contact Cindy Stanhope at 609-278-5254
For policy questions, contact Jean Harkness at 609-278-5268

School District Accountability Act

On March 15, 2007, Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law the School District Accountability Act. This multi-faceted legislation impacts school boards in a variety of ways and one key area is board-member training. Besides taking training in their first year, board members now need to attend additional training in subsequent years, as described below. This is the first year the requirement is in effect and NJSBA has obtained the approval of the New Jersey Department of Education to offer a single course, focused on the state’s new monitoring system-the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum (NJQSAC) to all affected board members.

Board members MUST attend a required training if you fall into one of the following categories:

  • 1st Term Board Members in 2nd and 3rd years
  • Reelected/Reappointed Board Members

Provisions of the law

  • Establish new requirements and approval processes for school board and staff travel.

  • Expand existing training required for newly elected and new school board members.

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  • Establish training requirements for first-term board members during their second and third years in office and for re-elected and re-appointed board members.

  • Set new processes that must be followed to renew or alter administrators contracts.

  • Create requirements for reporting and publicly posting administrators compensation.

  • Require plain language summaries of school budgets.

  • Extend the state commissioner of educations authority to intervene in school district business operations.

This resource page is designed to help local school boards understand the new School District Accountability Act and comply with its various requirements.

NJSBA will provide webinars and Web-based training opportunities for members who are required to take the mandatory training under the School District Accountability Act—those who are in the second and third years of their first terms in office, or any board member in his or her first year of a subsequent term.

Webinars are live conferences that offer greater interaction among the participants who log on to the program. Web-based training features a “recorded” program that can be viewed any time.

To register for a specific webinar or to use the Web-based version, school board members should have their business administrator contact NJSBA’s call center at (888) 886-5722, ext. 5217.

Accountability Act Training - Dates to be announced