Hello from Washington DC! Your NJPSA Government Relations team is in our nation’s capital working on state education policy at the Education Commission of the States this week. We can’t wait to bring home and share what we have learned! Meanwhile in Trenton…
New Law on Electric School Buses
Governor Murphy has enacted new legislation concerning education this week.
A-1677/S-3263 (Lampitt, Bagolie, Stanley/Diegnan, Turner) – This bill authorizes extended terms for lease and purchase contracts for electric school buses and permits the New Jersey School Boards Association to serve as a government aggregator to obtain energy services for local units. Governor Murphy signed this bill into law on July 10th, making it P.L.2024, c.38.
State Board of Education
The New Jersey State Board of Education held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, July 10th.
New Member Appointment
Claudine Keenan, Dean of Education at Stockton University, was welcomed as the newest member of the State Board of Education. She replaces Andrew Mulvihill and brings extensive experience in teacher preparation to the board. Keenan expressed her eagerness to engage in broader educational matters.
Leadership Elections
Kathy Goldenberg of Moorestown was unanimously reelected as President.
Nedd James Johnson was elected as Vice President. Both have served on the Board since 2017, with Johnson stepping into a leadership role for the first time.
New Student Member
Anna Paszkiewicz, a senior at Palmyra High School, began her tenure as the student member for the 2024/2025 school year.
Resignation
Sylvia Sylvia-Cioffi resigned from her position as of June 30, leaving a vacancy on the Board.
Proposed Amendments to NJQSAC
The Board reviewed a proposal for the readoption with amendments of N.J.A.C. 6A:30, which pertains to the evaluation of school district performance. The document includes summary and rules proposed for readoption and proposed amendments, including Appendix A, and Appendix B.
As part of the current readoption of N.J.A.C. 6A:30, the Department proposes amendments to streamline and clarify rules, procedures, and operations, update terminology and rules to align to provisions throughout Title 6A of the New Jersey Administrative Code and Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes, and remove gendered nouns and pronouns throughout the chapter.
The Department also proposes amendments at Appendix A, which is the District Performance Review (DPR) for school districts other than county special services school districts (CSSSDs), and Appendix B, which is the DPR for CSSSDs. The DPRs are used to document a school district’s self-assessment evaluation in five key components of school district effectiveness, and the county offices of education’s validation of the self-assessment score based on a review of the documentation provided by the school district. The proposed amendments at Appendices A and B will align NJQSAC with the State’s plan under the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and ensure that the Department’s evaluation of performance of a school district reflects current provisions at Title 6A of the New Jersey Administrative Code and Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Proposed amendments at Appendices A and B will redistribute points to equitably apply the Department’s evaluation of the performance of all school districts to which the chapter applies, regardless of configuration. Other proposed amendments at Appendices A and B will redistribute points to provide greater weight for indicators of more significance across the five key component areas of school district effectiveness. The proposed amendments at Appendices A and B have been developed with extensive input from stakeholders to create a monitoring tool that focuses on teaching and learning and preparing students to be college and career ready.
The Department proposes to delay the effective date of the proposed amendments to Appendices A and B until July 1, 2025. Therefore, the Department will use the existing DPRs through the 2024-2025 school year. The delayed effective date of the proposed amendments at Appendices A and B will ensure that the amendments do not go into effect in the middle of an evaluation cycle. The delayed effective date also will provide school districts and stakeholders ample time to become familiar with the new DPRs before they are used to monitor school district effectiveness.
Public Testimony Procedures
The Board discussed a Resolution modifying its policies on public testimony, specifically considering the removal of the two-hour limit to enable more public input on proposed rules.
The next State Board of Education meeting is scheduled for August 7th. For any inquiries, please contact the NJPSA Government Relations team at Governmentrelations@njpsa.org.
We hope that you are having an enjoyable summer, and are getting to have some relaxing down-time. Thank you for your advocacy, and for all that you do!