news release

New Jersey School Boards Association, P.O. Box 909, Trenton, NJ  08605-0909
Telephone: (609) 278-5202  •  Fax: (609) 695-0413  • Web site: www.njsba.org/PI

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:        Frank Belluscio (fbelluscio@njsba.org)
                        Mike Yaple (myaple@njsba.org)

Assembly Unanimously Passes Bill to Amend S-1701

 

Trenton, July 5, 2005—The Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed A-3680, a bill that amends some of the budget restrictions imposed last year through S-1701.

 “We thank the Assembly for passing this important legislation,” said Edwina M. Lee, NJSBA executive director. “We will urge the Senate to act on the bill so that school districts will have more flexibility in the 2006-07 budget-development process.”

 NJSBA strongly supported A-3680 (Cryan, Greenstein, Van Drew). The bill, which the Assembly passed by an 80-0 vote, would ease many of the restrictions placed on school district financial operations by S-1701 (Ch. 73, P.L. 2004).  A-3680 would—

• Increase the maximum surplus (or rainy day fund) that a school district could budget from 2% to 3% in 2006-07.
• Create a new spending growth limitation adjustment (SGLA) for rapidly increasing utility costs.
• Make permanent the existing, temporary SGLAs for insurance costs and domestic security.
• Stop the immediate, total elimination of the budget cap adjustment for hazardous route transportation—which is busing provided at school districts’ expense for children living within two miles of school, or two and a half miles for high schoolers, to ensure that students do not cross busy highways or walk on streets without sidewalks. A-3680 would phase out the SGLA for hazardous-route busing.
• Allow for commissioner of education approval to exceed S-1701's administrative spending growth limits and to permit certain line-item transfers restricted by S-1701.

 A-3680 is now waiting for consideration by the Senate Education Committee, which is not expected to meet again until the fall.

 Lee said A-3680 is a step in the right direction. "Although the bill falls far short of our goal of the complete repeal of S-1701,” she said, “it would give school districts a greater degree of relief in developing budgets in subsequent years."

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The New Jersey School Boards Association is a federation of the state’s local boards of education.  Established more than 90 years ago, NJSBA represents the education and related health and safety interests of New Jersey's 1.4 million public school students and advocates the positions of the state's local school districts.  The Association also provides inservice training and technical assistance to the state's 4,800 local board of education members.  School board members, who serve without compensation, are the largest group of elected and appointed public officials in the state.