By Chris Nelson
Although the Senate has yet to hold its first fall meeting, the Assembly is back and in full swing. NJPSA’s Government Relations staff engaged with legislators on a multitude of topics across several committees this week.
Assembly Education
The Assembly Education Committee met on Monday the 14th for the first time since June. The committee agenda focused on a package of bills addressing fiscal accountability and stability in local district budgeting and spending. This included a package of bills sponsored by Vice-Chair Rosie Bagolie. She expressed in her statements that this bill package is intended to give districts more options and greater flexibility to identify and prevent financial problems before they reach crisis level, and to give the state better tools to identify and prevent potential financial crises before they reach critical mass and require state intervention.
The discussion was robust and comprehensive. The following bills were considered:
- A5186 (Bagolie) – Establishes School Security Pilot Program in DOE and appropriates $15 million – This bill would establish a pilot program under which districts will receive funding for security infrastructure equipment and upgrades. The program would be established in the Department of Education, but the Commissioner would be required to work in collaboration with the Commissioner of Human Services, the Commissioner of Children and Families, and the Director of the State Office of Emergency Management in the Department of Law and Public Safety to implement it.
As it has moved to this point through both houses, a number of changes were made, including additional clarification to equipment definitions, clarification of application procedure, and expansion of eligibility. Specifically, recent changes removed the stipulation that this would be a county-based program and shifted eligibility to individual districts.
Testimony on the bill came from organizations representing law enforcement and non-public school districts, requesting expansion of the program to cover programs in all 21 counties and to make such funds eligible to private schools, respectively.
NJPSA staff expressed support for the bill as amended. The bill was passed out of the Education committee and referenced to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for additional consideration. NJPSA supports this bill.
- A5205 (Bagolie) – Concerns school district finances regarding unanticipated cost increases and unused leave liabilities – Payment of unused sick time to retiring or departing employees is a significant local budget issue at various levels of government, but especially so locally, This bill would allow districts to establish and maintain a reserve account that would then be available to finance leave packages for school employees pursuant to existing law and contract.
NJPSA staff testified in support of the bill in concept. However, we expressed concerns that, while a useful idea, many of the districts who would benefit most from reserve accounts of this nature are the same districts that cannot afford to establish or fund such an account. In addition, we expressed concerns with bill language requiring statements of intent in contracts, and asked for clarifying language. The sponsor was receptive to the public comments and we expect to continue that dialogue before this bill and its companions receive their next hearing. This bill was combined with A5208 (see our notes on that bill below) and passed out of the Education committee. The new combined bill was referenced to the Assembly State and Local Government Committee for additional consideration. NJPSA provided comment on this bill, but took no position on its passage.
- A5206 (Bagolie) – Establishes additional procedures for financial oversight and reporting to ensure fiscal stability of school districts – This bill was written in response to a number of high profile cases of financial management crises in local districts. As amended here, this bill would establish procedures to be followed by chief school administrators, school business administrators, boards of education, and school employees in order to improve the financial management of districts and ensure the short- and long-term fiscal stability of a district.
Among its myriad stipulations, the bill: specifies additional information to be included in the secretary’s monthly report; requires a district’s chief school administrator to perform a monthly reconciliation of the district’s position control roster; requires certain information to be conveyed to a board of education when school staff recommendations require a vote of the board; stipulates that a board of education may not approve any financial commitment unless the school business administrator certifies that sufficient funds are available to fund the financial commitment; establishes procedures to be followed by the school business administrator if the administrator is not able to certify the financial commitment; directs each school district to adopt a policy regarding the reporting of fiscal concerns in the district; requires the purchasing agent to contact the Office of Controversies and Disputes in the DOE if the agent determines the board has not acted in accordance with the provisions of existing contract law; and grants the purchasing agent the authority to override any purchase, contract, or agreement approved or awarded by the board of education in certain circumstances.
Numerous concerns about the nature and potential effects of these changes were expressed to the committee by representatives from the School Boards Association and the Association of School Business Officials. Although broadly supportive of the sponsors’ intent, it is clear from their comments that some notable concerns remain as this package of bills moves through the hearing process.
This bill was passed out of the Education committee and referenced to the Assembly State and Local Government Committee for additional consideration. NJPSA is neutral on this bill.
- A5207 (Bagolie) – Expands duties of executive county business official; establishes processes for fiscal review of school districts by executive county superintendent and Commissioner of Education – As with the other bills in this package, this one was written to address shortfalls in financial accountability and reporting requirements that led to financial crises in certain districts. As amended, this measure would expand the duties of the executive county business official and establish processes for the fiscal review of school districts by the executive county superintendent and the Commissioner of Education.
More specifically, the bill: permits a county to hire multiple executive county business officials based on the number of municipalities the county serves; expands the duties of the executive county business official to require, among other duties, more substantial oversight of the fiscal conditions of the schools in the county; requires the executive county business official to, on a rolling basis, conduct fiscal reviews of each school district under its purview; requires the establishment of corrective action plans for certain school districts whose fiscal reviews identify significant fiscal concerns in two consecutive reviews; requires the commissioner to develop and administer a Comprehensive Statewide Fiscal Early Warning System and defines its responsibilities; establishes a procedure to create an improvement plan and requires the commissioner to review the district’s progress in implementing the improvement plan; and permits the executive county superintendent and the department to hire additional staff necessary to accommodate their expanded responsibilities.
Testimony on this bill was more limited, but comments were largely supportive of expanding the role and responsibilities of the counties in these areas, and of giving them greater tools to evaluate and provide assistance.
This bill was passed out of the Education committee and referenced to the Assembly State and Local Government Committee for additional consideration. NJPSA is neutral on this bill.
- A5208 (Bagolie) – Establishes certain mechanisms to address significant unanticipated cost increases experienced by school districts – This bill was written specifically to give districts an additional tool to utilize in the case of sudden and unexpected large expenses. As in A5025 above, it allows districts to create and maintain a reserve account to address such expenses, and creates the framework in which the account can be utilized.
Similar to A5205, NJPSA staff expressed concerns that, although a useful and potentially beneficial idea in concept, many of the districts who could benefit from such a fund could not afford to establish one in their current circumstances.
Because the two are functionally similar, and deal with the same section of law, this bill was combined with A5205 before it passed out of the Education committee. The two will now move as a single bill, which was referenced to the Assembly State and Local Government Committee for additional consideration. NJPSA is neutral on this bill.
- A5254 (Reynolds-Jackson) – “Jack Reid Law: Protect All Students Act”; prohibits harassment or bullying of nonpublic school students and requires nonpublic schools to adopt anti-harassment and bullying policy – This legislation was authored in response to a number of incidents of bullying in the nonpublic school environment that highlighted the gaps in requirements between nonpublic and public schools in terms of bullying and harassment response and reporting. In the case of this bill’s namesake, the young man in question ultimately took his own life. As amended, the bill would bring non-public school HIB response and reporting requirements into line with those already in place for public schools. During testimony it was noted that if passed, this bill would not place the same “protected trait” limitations on the affected schools that the current public school HIB statute does. There was some discussion on the possibility of aligning the public school law to mirror that change in the future as well. The bill passed out of committee and is on second reading meaning it can be voted on by the full Assembly. NJPSA supports this bill.
Assembly Regulated Professions
The Assembly Regulated Professions Committee met on Thursday the 10th. Although not typically an education-adjacent body, there is sometimes an intersection with a number of the professionals utilized by schools and districts who are considered “regulated” by the state. That includes speech language specialists, and the committee considered the following related legislation:
- A4954 (Swain) – Modifies certain provisions of law concerning speech-language specialists – In simplest terms, the intent of this bill is to formalize in law what is currently in code regarding the roles and responsibilities of speech language specialists in the child study process.
NJPSA is generally supportive of the sponsors’ intent and of the concepts outlined in the bill. However, there is considerable nuance and detail to the process and NJPSA staff expressed concerns that the bill language does not align with existing code, or existing statutory language, at various spots. It is possible that, if left unaddressed, some of the elements of this bill may unintentionally create a requirement for a redundant or burdensome process where one is not currently necessary. Rather than testify in opposition, NJPSA and several other education advocacy organizations requested that the bill be referenced to the Education Committee for further consideration and amendment in the context of the education policy setting.
This bill did subsequently advance out of Regulated Professions and was indeed referenced to the Assembly Education Committee for further consideration. NJPSA has taken no formal position on this bill, but is working with the sponsor on clarifying amendments.
Assembly Higher Education
The Assembly Higher Education Committee met on Thursday the 17th and considered one bill of interest to the public education community.
- A2470 (McCoy) – Revises high school student financial aid application requirements – In 2023, the legislature passed a law making it mandatory for all high school students to complete a FAFSA application as part of their graduation requirements. At the time, the sponsors argued vigorously that far too many New Jersey students are unaware that financial assistance is available to them and do not even consider further education as a result. They contended that the best way to improve that awareness was to create a mandate. After considerable pushback from various organizations, the Legislature added a “waiver” provision for students and families, and created a 3 year pilot program to test the new mandate and it’s consequences.
That program will run its course this school year and a subsequent report would be due by the end of 2027. The sponsors of this bill have expressed that the program has demonstrated its positive impact already and intend to make the requirement (and the opt-out provision) permanent in law before its terminus.
Discussion between government relations staff and NJPSA members revealed that, although much of the field views the current requirements as burdensome, there was no clear consensus among membership on just how onerous that burden is and just how effective it has been. As a result, GR staff has had to take a nuanced approach in testimony on this bill.
In testimony before this committee, Assistant Director Jennie Lamon expressed that, although our membership believes that schools and educators should do all we can to inform all students about the wide range of post-secondary opportunities that are available to them, we have concerns about making the requirements of this program permanent in law before it has been concluded, analyzed, and reported as originally intended. Doing so takes an element of choice out of the hands of students and their families and puts it with the state through schools, with no clear indication that doing so will benefit the intended population. Our testimony left the legislators with these key questions to consider in deciding how to vote on this matter going forward:
- Have we added to the stress on students and families in our current climate?
- Does the requirement impact certain populations of our students and families differently?
- Have we put a student of divorced parents in an unnecessary and uncomfortable position when faced with a parent who refuses to participate in FAFSA completion? Yes, we have the “out” of a waiver, but did that student need to experience that?
- Are we communicating to students that their choice to go into the military or work force after high school is an inappropriate choice?
- Do the ends justify the means in creating a new barrier to graduation? Are NJ students actually accessing more financial aid to pursue their goals and do we have the data to show that?
This bill advanced out of Higher Education and is now on second reading, meaning it can be considered by the full Assembly at any time. NJPSA is currently neutral in this bill, but continuing to seek amendments.
Assembly Financial Institutions
The Assembly Financial Institutions Committee also met on Thursday the 17th. NJPSA provided testimony on a bill addressing transparency for health care claims.
A5046, sponsored by Assemblyman Venezia, would require that health care claims experience data for a variety of claims be made available to local government entities upon request. This would include experience data on health care benefits and claims and prescription benefits and claims. The bill requires that any data shared must be provided within 60 days and in both physical and electronic format, and that it complies strictly with healthcare privacy law.
NJPSA Director of Government Relations Debbie Bradley testified in support of the bill and recommended amendments that would expand the sharing requirement to include local bargaining units and majority representatives. Committee members were receptive to this suggestion and we will continue to monitor this bill as it advances.
This bill advanced out of Financial Institutions and was referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for further consideration. NJPSA is seeking amendments to this bill.
If you have any questions about these bills or any other legislative matter, please reach out to your NJPSA Government Relations team at any time.