Legislative Update: Committees Focus on Teacher Shortage, Food Insecurity

On Monday, March 4, the Assembly Education Committee met to advance a package of bills aimed at improving teacher recruitment and retention. The Assembly Children, Families and Food Security Committee also held a hearing on food insecurity.

Assembly Education Committee

On March 4, the Assembly Education Committee approved:

Grow Your Own Teacher Loan Redemption Program A-1619 would establish the Grow Your Own Teacher Loan Redemption Program. The program would provide for the redemption of a portion of eligible student loan expenses for each year of full-time employment as a certified teacher in the school district from which the individual graduated high school or a district in which the individual has resided for more than five years. Program participants would be required to teach in the district for at least five years and would qualify for redemption of up to $10,000 of principal and interest of eligible student loan expenses for each full year of employment (total redemption amount not to exceed $50,000 for five years of employment). To qualify, the district must be experiencing a shortage of teachers as determined by the New Jersey Department of Education. The New Jersey School Boards Association supports the bill.

Eliminating the “Basic Skills” Requirement A-1669 would eliminate the requirement that candidates for instructional certificates complete an NJDOE-approved test of basic reading, writing and mathematics skills, including but not limited to the Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators test. NJSBA supports the bill.

State Database of Newly Certified Teachers A-1676 would require the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, in consultation with the NJDOE, to create a database of “novice teachers.”  The bill defines novice teachers as those holding their initial Certificate of Eligibility or Certificate of Eligibility with Advance Standing but who have not yet been issued a provisional certificate (i.e. not yet been hired by a school district) available to school districts (but not to the general public). The database would include, among other information, contact information for the novice teacher and their certification area(s). Novice teachers would be able to opt out of inclusion in the database. The bill would also require the DOLWD to host three job fairs per year – one in each of the northern, central and southern regions of the state – to assist districts in filling staffing vacancies. The NJSBA supports the bill.

Student Teacher Scholarship Program A-2362 would establish the New Jersey Student Teacher Scholarship Program in the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority. Under the program, HESAA, in coordination with the NJDOE, would award scholarships of up to $7,200, which may be increased to include a cost-of-living adjustment, to eligible students for each semester of full-time clinical practice completed by the student at a New Jersey school, for up to two semesters. NJSBA supports the bill.

Expanding Who Can Provide Home Instruction Documentation A-3340 would empower a general education or special education student’s advanced practice nurse – in addition to their physician – to document the student’s need for home instruction due to a temporary or chronic health condition pursuant to NJDOE regulations (N.J.A.C. 6A:16-10.1 et seq.) NJSBA is monitoring the bill.

Evaluation Review Task Force and Temporary SGO Relief S-2082/A-3413 would establish the New Jersey Educator Evaluation Review Task Force to study and evaluate the educator evaluation system established pursuant to the TEACHNJ Act and implemented in New Jersey public schools.

The task force is to examine the educator evaluation process, gather data, evaluate the data and make recommendations concerning the annual evaluation process for teachers, principals, assistant principals and vice principals established pursuant to the TEACHNJ Act. The task force is to consist of 13 members who have a background in, or special knowledge of, the legal, policy and administrative aspects of educator evaluation in New Jersey. The members are to include:

• One member appointed by the president of the Senate.
• One member appointed by the speaker of the General Assembly.
• One member appointed by the governor.
• Three representatives of the New Jersey Education Association.
• Three representatives of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association.
• One representative appointed by the New Jersey School Boards Association.
• One representative appointed by the New Jersey Association of School Administrators.
• One representative appointed by the Garden State Coalition of Schools.
• One representative appointed by the American Federation of Teachers.

The task force is to consider the law in the current context of the state’s schools, identify areas for improvement and make any recommendations regarding any appropriate changes or updates to the law or regulations implementing the law. The task force is to issue a final report of its findings and recommendations to the governor and the Legislature no later than Sept. 30, 2024. The department is to make the final report available to the public on its website.

Additionally, the bill clarifies that student growth data used for the purposes of educator evaluations is data collected in the most recent year in which an educator completed student growth objectives. Under the bill, teachers are not to collect new student growth observation data in the 2024-2025 school year, and are instead to use, for the purposes of educator evaluations, existing student growth objective data from the most recent year in which the educator completed student growth objectives. For any teacher in their first year of employment in a district, any teacher without a record of pre-existing student growth objectives, or any nontenured teacher, the teacher is to set student growth objectives and collect data pertaining to these objectives during the 2024-2025 school year. Beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, school districts are to implement guidelines for the collection of student growth objective data consistent with any law, rule, or regulation enacted as a result of the findings of the task force.

NJSBA supported the current version of the bill, which is a significant departure from legislation as introduced. Last session, NJSBA, alongside several other education stakeholder groups, expressed strong opposition to the legislation, A-5877/S-4234, when there was a push to move it during lame duck. That bill would have established a revised summative evaluation schedule for tenured teachers, principals, assistant principals and vice principals – effectively eliminating annual evaluations for certain teachers based on past performance. The NJSBA testified in opposition to the bill, citing the importance of the annual summative evaluation process to the quality and support of the teacher workforce. This new legislation will instead allow for more deliberation among all interested stakeholders before determining if there is a need to make any statutory or regulatory changes to the current educator evaluation system.

Assembly Children, Families and Food Security Committee

On March 5, the Assembly Children, Families and Food Security held a hearing on food insecurity. Invited guests provided testimony concerning the consequences of food insecurity on children’s academic performance and mental well-being, the impact of food insecurity on household finances and how food insecurity affects senior citizens’ access to adequate nutrition options. An archived recording of the meeting can be accessed on the New Jersey Legislature’s webpage here.

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