Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts and Majority Leader Bonnie Watson-Coleman last week unveiled a legislative package directed toward reorganizing local government—including the structure of school districts, school elections, public employee pensions, the education funding formula, and shared services.

 “Legislators have made it clear that the reforms unveiled on May 10 will be discussed in a deliberative, collaborative manner,” said Edwina M. Lee, NJSBA executive director. “NJSBA plans to be an integral part of that decision-making process.”

School District Structure  Roberts’ proposal calls for creating 21 “super” county superintendents, who would approve the hiring and compensation of district superintendents, sign off on school budgets and have the authority to veto excessive non-instructional expenses. The county superintendents would also promote cooperative purchasing and, at district request, provide administrative services in areas such as transportation, purchasing and accounting.

 Under the proposal, New Jersey’s 23 “send-all” (or “non-operating”) districts would be eliminated within one year. The plan would also authorize referenda on reorganizing elementary-only and secondary-only school districts into K-12 systems.

Election, Budget Approval The proposal calls for moving school board member elections to November. It would also eliminate elections on school budgets that are within the state-mandated spending growth limit. Voters would decide over-cap expenditures through binding referenda, with no appeal to the state.

School Funding On Monday, the Assembly Education Committee released a resolution—AR-168 (Watson Coleman, Stanley)—to create a School Aid Formula & Accountability Task Force. Part of Roberts’ proposal, the task force will convene this month, conduct hearings through the summer and present recommendations on a new school-funding formula in September. It will consist of seven legislators and six members of the public.

Pension Reform Robert’s proposal also includes curtailing pension padding and preventing employees from using multiple public jobs to build pension benefits. The Assembly Appropriations Committee will hold hearings on pension reform this month.