Budget, Education Bills Become Law

Budget, Education Bills Become Law

It’s official: Gov. Jon Corzine has signed into law the $32.86 billion state budget for 2008-2009, an amount that is $600 million less than the budget adopted last year.

While many items in the budget saw cuts—most notably homeowner rebates and aid to municipalities—state aid to education was one of the few increases in the Appropriations Act. School aid grew by $532 million, as called for in the state’s new school-funding formula, the School Funding Reform Act of 2008.

Aid to public schools, including school employee pension costs, accounts for approximately a third of the state budget.

This year’s increase in state aid for public schools comes after six years of largely stagnant funding, a situation that forced local school districts to rely more heavily on property taxes to maintain education programs.

Other legislation enacted by the governor includes:

State Board Appeals A-45, which eliminates the State Board of Education from deciding appeals of rulings made by the Commissioner of Education, was signed by the governor on July 7.

State Debt On June 25, Corzine signed S-2052, which uses an unexpected budget surplus to pay down $650 million of New Jersey’s more than $32 billion in debt.

Efficiency Commission The governor signed A-2811, which dissolves the Commission on Business Efficiency in the Public Schools. The commission was established in 1979 to create and implement a five-year plan to monitor the recommendations of the task force on business efficiency and to recommend to the Legislature changes needed to improve business efficiency in public schools.

Accountability Regs A-2965/S-1911, which grants the commissioner unilateral authority to implement accountability regulations, was enacted Monday. (See article, page 1.)

Awaiting Action Other education bills have passed both houses, and now sit on the governor’s desk. They include A-1671, which will allow parents, not schools, to determine whether their twin children or other multiples should be placed in the same classroom, and A-2873, the $3.9 billion school-construction bill.

In Committee Several school-related bills are currently sitting in either the Senate Education Committee or the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. They include:

A-10, a bill to limit the per pupil administrative costs of certain districts to 90 percent of the regional administrative costs per pupil for the 2008-2009 school year, has passed the Assembly.
A bill, S-1861, that would move school board member elections to the November general election and eliminate the vote on school budgets, except for budget proposals to spend above cap. The bill’s Assembly counterpart, A-15, passed that house.
The tax credit voucher bill (S-1607) would establish a five-year pilot program to provide corporate tax credits to pay for scholarships to send students in seven communities to out-of-district public schools—or to private and religious schools.
Bus radio legislation (S-510) would require each school bus to have two-way communications equipment.
Background checks (S-110) would be required for school employees who were “grandfathered” from the 1986 law calling for criminal background checks (employees working at that time were not required to undergo the checks).

The Legislature is not expected to return from its recess until the fall. Bills are still alive and can be acted on until the end of the two-year Legislative session, which ends in January 2010.