Legislative Update: Last Bills of the Session Passed, Signed

Legislative Update: Last Bills of the Session Passed, Signed

In the final days of the 2008-2009 session of the New Jersey Legislature, several bills of interest to the education community moved. A bill to extend and expand a previous pilot program that required high school students to perform community service passed the Assembly on Monday. Under the measure (S-2898 / A-4279), the new pilot program would begin in the 2010-2011 school year and would apply to incoming freshman, who would have to complete a minimum of 20 hours of community service over their high school careers. The bill passed 74-3, and now heads to the Governor for his signature. Diploma Mill Bill Passes The Assembly also approved NJSBA-supported bill S-2127 (A-3671), which will crackdown on the use of phony degrees from so-called “diploma mills” by school teachers and administrators. The bill requires certain conditions to be met in order for school districts to provide employees with tuition assistance for coursework or additional compensation upon acquisition of a degree. It passed the Assembly 76-0; it had previously passed the Senate in October 2008. Child Endangerment, Electrical Contracting Bills Move S-52, which permanently disqualifies certain persons convicted of child endangerment from working with children, passed the Assembly and the Senate on Monday. A measure that would not allow schools to contract for electrical work except with a licensed journeyman who is a member of the electrical contractor’s union, A-3317, also passed the Senate and the Assembly on Jan. 11. The bill provides an exception for any work with the potential of less than 10 volts, and exempts employees who have completed a federally approved electrical apprenticeship program. A-371, an NJSBA-supported bill which lengthens the service life of school buses to 15 years, passed both houses of the Legislature on Monday, as did A-4377, which extends a pilot program to address the state’s shortage of mathematics and science teachers by one year. A-420 grants tenure-like protection to education support personnel employed in districts that receive Title I funding. It passed the Assembly in 2008 and the Senate on Jan. 11. NJSBA opposed this bill. Gov. Signs Laws Gov. Jon S. Corzine has recently signed several bills into law. A-1072 /S-480 requires prompt parental and staff notification of contaminated soil found on school property, while A-3002 /S-2518 requires school security drills to improve emergency preparedness.

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