Regular activity at the State House resumed this week after the Legislature’s traditional spring budget break, and the focus returned to next year’s state budget. Education committees in both houses considered a wide range of bills, and several other committees also approved bills relevant to boards of education.

Assembly Education Committee

The Assembly Education Committee met on Thursday, May 8, and approved the following bills:

Water Safety Month  A-4762 would designate May of each year as “Water Safety Month” in New Jersey. The bill would also encourage the New Jersey Department of Education, in consultation with the state Department of Health, to provide resources to school districts to hold presentations and educational activities during the month for students in grades K-5.

The New Jersey School Boards Association supports the bill.

Water Safety Fact Sheet  A-4763 would require the New Jersey Commissioner of Education to develop an educational fact sheet on water safety, in consultation with water safety organizations. The commissioner would be required to make the fact sheet available to school districts and nonpublic schools, and districts would be required to distribute the fact sheet to parents and guardians. Additionally, as amended, the bill would require NJDOE to develop, and update annually, a list of locations where swimming lessons and age-appropriate water safety courses providing instruction to promote water safety are offered, including courses and lessons that are offered for free or reduced prices. School districts would be required to provide access to the list on their websites.

The NJSBA testified in support of the bill as amended. The NJSBA also successfully obtained the amendment to direct the NJDOE to develop a statewide list of locations where swimming lessons and safety courses are offered rather than having each district create their own lists.

Protecting Student Data  A-5469/S-4162 would amend the current law to limit the disclosure of financial information. The amended law would require that a waiver template or form developed by the NJDOE, a board of education, or a board of trustees of a charter school for use in collecting student financial aid information would provide only the student’s name, telephone number, email address, and the date and signature of the person submitting the waiver. Under the bill, school districts and charter schools are prohibited from using or disclosing the waiver submitted under P.L.2023, c.295, or any personal information contained within the waiver, without the informed consent of the student or the student’s parent or guardian. The 2023 law requires high school students to complete financial aid forms as a prerequisite to graduate.

The NJSBA supports the bill which was passed by the Senate in March.

No-Fee Option for School Lunch Payments  A-5263/S-3961 would require boards of education to offer a no-fee option to parents and guardians for making school lunch and other types of payments. The no-fee option would need to be provided at a time and place convenient for students’, parents’ and guardians’ use. The bill would also require any payment processing platform used by a school district to provide users with certain information on user fees and would require any school-based communications requesting payment for school meals, field trips, activity fees or other goods or services to include information on the fees associated with use of a payment processing platform that may be used to make the payment.

The NJSBA is monitoring the bill, which was passed by the Senate in February.

IEP Meeting Guidelines & Working Group  A-5492/S-3982 would require certain information to be provided to a parent at least two business days prior to an annual individualized education program team meeting and would establish a working group within the NJDOE. Pursuant to the bill, at least two days prior to an IEP meeting, a school must provide a student’s parent or guardian with a written statement of items to be discussed at the meeting, including 1) the student’s current levels of academic and functional performance; 2) a list of the names of any required IEP team members who are seeking to be excused from participation in the IEP team meeting accompanied by their input into programs and services for which they are responsible and 3) an invitation for the parent or guardian to provide input and feedback on proposed services and programs. The bill would also establish an IEP Improvement Working Group to provide recommendations to the NJDOE regarding methods to improve the development and implementation of IEPs and to ensure parental involvement in the process. The working group would include two school board members.

The NJSBA testified in support of the bill, which was passed by the Senate in March.

Senate Education Committee

The Senate Education Committee met on Monday, May 12, and – unless otherwise noted – approved the following bills:

Instruction on Dangers of Fentanyl and Xylazine S-2818, also called the “Fentanyl and Xylazine Poisoning Awareness Act,” would require school districts to provide instruction on the dangers of fentanyl and xylazine as part of the district’s implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education. The bill would also require the Commissioner of Education to provide school districts with age-appropriate resources designed to implement the requirements established under the bill and would require NJDOE to post and maintain related information on its website. As amended, the instruction standards adopted by the State Board of Education would occur concurrently with each update of the NJSLS, and the board would be required to review the necessity of this instruction every 15 years.

The NJSBA is monitoring the bill.

Electric Vehicle Certification Programs S-2881, as amended, would authorize school districts with automotive programs to enter into a partnership with a private entity to establish electric vehicle certification programs. Under the bill, districts shall issue an electric vehicle certification to each person who successfully completes the training program. The bill would apply to a variety of school districts, including county vocational school districts.

The NJSBA testified in support of the amended bill.

Chronic Absenteeism Task Force  S-3776 would establish a task force to study the causes of chronic absenteeism and develop recommendations for lowering absenteeism rates. The 18-member group would include one member upon the recommendation of NJSBA and would be required to issue a final report to the governor within six months following its organization.

The NJSBA supports the bill.

Expanding Early Child Education  S-3910, or the “New Jersey Universal Preschool and Kindergarten Act,” would make various updates to preschool funding and set new kindergarten requirements.  The bill would effectively codify into statute the state’s existing preschool expansion aid program, while also ensuring all elementary school districts offer free, full-day kindergarten to all five-year old students.

Under the bill, a school district first receiving preschool education aid in one of the next three school years and participating in a pilot program established by the commissioner would be allowed to exceed its local tax levy cap by an increase amounting to the local share of preschool education costs. If a district is already providing full-day preschool for three- and four-year olds, the bill would allow that district to use state-provided preschool education aid for additional purposes designated by the commissioner. The bill would require districts receiving preschool education aid to obtain commissioner approval prior to implementing any significant redistribution of state-funded preschool seats among district-operated programs, licensed childcare providers, and Head Start programs. The bill also lays out application requirements for NJDOE preschool expansion grants, which would be made eligible to districts that meet certain criteria, including already providing full-day kindergarten. The bill also sets several requirements for districts receiving preschool education aid, including demonstrating due diligence to implement “mixed delivery” preschool programs (i.e. partnering with licensed child care providers and Head Starts) and participating in a system of self-assessment. Finally, the bill would establish a Universal Preschool Implementation Steering Committee within NJDOE and would require NJDOE to develop a Mixed Delivery Model Preschool Handbook.

The bill would also set a kindergarten enrollment birthday deadline of October 1 of that school year and would require districts to provide free full-day kindergarten (or enter into a send-receive relationship for full-day kindergarten) by the beginning of the 2029-2030 school year.

In committee testimony, the NJSBA expressed its overall support for the bill’s goal to achieve universal preschool, while avoiding a statewide mandate, as the introduced version of the bill would have imposed. The NJSBA supported the codification of the preschool aid into law as well as the tax cap relief it would grant to districts to help them pay for preschool expansion.

The NJSBA also expressed some concerns about the bill, namely the potential unfunded mandate for free, full-day kindergarten.  Absent state resources to support this mandate, NJSBA argued that districts should maintain the authority to offer half-day programs and to charge tuition when necessary, as is currently the case in some districts, in order to avoid the diversion of resources from other critical programs and services. The NJSBA also urged the committee to remain committed to fully funding the school funding formula while the Legislature continues to increase investment in preschool.

Extending Pause on SGOs S-4375/A-5077 would extend the statutory pause on the collection of student growth objective (SGO) data initiated pursuant to P.L.2024, c.14, and would add a pause on the collection of administrator goals data. That 2024 law established the New Jersey Educator Evaluation Review Task Force and ceased the collection of new data for SGO purposes during the current school year. The purpose of the bill is to extend the pause on the collection of SGO data and administrator goals data until the completion of possible revisions to the evaluation process pursuant to recommendations from the task force’s final report issued this past September. Under the amended bill, the collection of SGO data and administrator goals data would be paused until the next expiration and subsequent readoption of current educator evaluation regulations (N.J.A.C.6A:10). Additionally, a teacher, principal, assistant principal, or vice-principal who is eligible to attain tenure on or before February 15 would not be required to set SGO or administrator goals for the year in which they are eligible to attain tenure; those eligible after February 15 would be required to do so.

The NJSBA supports the bill, which was passed by the Assembly in December.

Mediation for School Ethics Complaints  S-3600 was posted “for discussion only” and therefore did not receive a vote but could be advanced at a future hearing. As introduced, the bill would establish a mediation process for school ethics complaints. The School Ethics Commission (SEC) would be required to provide an opportunity for a complainant and any school official named in the complaint to engage in mediation to determine whether the complaint may be dismissed without further proceedings. If the complainant and any school official named in the complaint were to agree to mediation, the SEC would be required to assign a mediator to conduct a mediation conference. Prior to commencement of the mediation conference, the mediator would require the complainant and any school official named in the complaint to sign a confidentiality pledge to ensure that discussions that occur during the mediation remain confidential. If the mediation resulted in the complainant dismissing the complaint, the complainant and any school official named in the complaint would be required to sign a written agreement that memorializes the dismissal of the complaint. However, if the complainant did not dismiss the complaint after the mediation conference, the SEC would be required to follow the current procedure established by law to determine whether a school official has violated the School Ethics Act, or a school board member has violated the Code of Ethics for School Board Members.

The NJSBA expressed concerns that the bill is too prescriptive by only allowing mediation immediately after the filing of a complaint and that it provides no funding for the intended mediation program. The NJSBA recommended that the bill provide greater flexibility in the timing of the mediation and describe how the program will be funded.

Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee

The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee met on Monday, May 12, and approved the following bills relevant to boards of education:

Statewide Database for Legal Notices  S-3905 would require the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to establish and maintain a database for the purpose of locating and viewing local government unit legal notices. Under the bill, whenever a local government unit is required by law to publish a legal notice in one or more newspapers, the local government unit would be able to satisfy that requirement by transmitting the legal notice to DCA for inclusion, without charge or fee, in the database.

The NJSBA testified in support of the bill while also continuing to advocate for the ability for local government units, including boards of education, to comply with legal notice requirements by posting on their own websites.

Cost-Benefit Analysis for PILOTs  S-4069 would require, in certain circumstances, a cost-benefit analysis to be included in an urban renewal entity’s application for a long-term property tax exemption and a municipality’s independent review of that application. That cost-benefit analysis would need to include an analysis of the project’s impact on the finances of the municipality, county, school district, and other taxing districts, within which the project is located. The bill would also require a municipal governing body to include findings of the analysis in a resolution approving or disapproving an application for a long-term property tax exemption. As amended, the cost-benefit analysis would not be required for projects that involve inclusionary developments.

The NJSBA testified in support of the bill, citing the benefits of increased transparency and analysis of financial impacts on school districts as a result of PILOT projects.

Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee

The Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee met on Thursday, May 8, and approved the following bill relevant to boards of education:

Surprise School Bus Inspections A-1423 would require the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) to conduct a minimum of two annual inspections of school buses through the MVC school bus enhanced safety inspection program. In addition to the annual scheduled inspection of school buses required under current law, the bill would require the MVC to conduct unscheduled surprise inspections.

The NJSBA opposes the bill, citing the disruptions to transportation that may occur as a result of unscheduled bus inspections.

Assembly Children, Families and Food Security Committee

The Assembly Children, Families and Food Security Committee met on Thursday, May 8, and approved the following bill relevant to boards of education:

Social Media Public Awareness Campaign  A-2367 would require NJDOE, in consultation with the Commissioner of Health, to develop and implement a public awareness campaign on the dangers of social media use to minors through media outlets. The bill would require the Commissioner of Education to report to the governor, and to the Legislature, no later than 24 months after the effective date of the bill, on the activities and accomplishments of the public awareness campaign. Finally, the bill would appropriate $500,000 for the development and implementation of the campaign.

The NJSBA supports the bill.

To view the full text of any of the bills summarized above, please visit the New Jersey Legislature’s website.