SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 2982
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: NOVEMBER 23, 2009
The Senate Education Committee favorably reports Senate Bill No. 2982 with committee amendments.
As amended, this bill makes permanent the interdistrict public school choice program. A five-year interdistrict public school choice program was established in 2000 and expired on June 30, 2005. As under the original choice program, the permanent program provides for the establishment of choice districts which will be able to enroll students across district lines in designated schools of the choice district. The permanent program, however, includes no limitation on the total number of choice districts permitted in the State.
A local or regional district electing to participate in the program would submit an application to the commissioner no later than April 30 in the year prior to the school year in which the choice program would be implemented, and the commissioner would notify an applicant district of the approval or disapproval of its application no later than July 30. The commissioner is authorized to take appropriate action, consistent with State and federal law, to provide that student population diversity in all districts participating in a choice district program is maintained.
A proposed choice district's application would be evaluated by the commissioner using such criteria as the fiscal impact on the district, the quality and variety of academic programs offered within the district, and the degree to which the program will promote or reduce educational quality in the choice district and the sending districts.
The parents or guardian of a student would notify the sending district of the student's intention to participate in the choice program and submit an application to the choice district, indicating the school the student wishes to attend. To be eligible to participate in the program, a student must be enrolled at the time of application in grades preschool through 12 in a school of the sending district and have attended school in the sending district for at least one full year immediately preceding enrollment in the choice district. However, the one-year requirement would not apply to a student enrolling in preschool or kindergarten in the choice district, if the student’s sibling also attends that choice district. Openings in a designated school of a choice district would be on a space available basis, and if more applications are received for a designated school than there are spaces available, a lottery would be held to determine the selection of students. Preference for enrollment may be given to siblings of students who are enrolled in a designated school.
If a choice district has openings that are not filled, the choice district may accept public school students who do not meet the attendance requirement and nonpublic school students.
A choice district would be permitted to evaluate a prospective student on the student's interest in the program offered by a designated school. The district may not, however, discriminate in its admission policies or practices on the basis of athletic ability, intellectual aptitude, English language proficiency, status as a handicapped person, or any other basis prohibited by State or federal law.
In addition, a choice district could not prohibit the enrollment of a student based upon a determination that the additional cost of educating the student would exceed the amount of additional State aid received as a result of the student's enrollment. A choice district may reject the application for enrollment of a student who has been classified as eligible for special education services if that student's individualized education program could not be implemented in the district, or if the enrollment of that student would require the district to fundamentally alter the nature of its educational program, or would create an undue financial or administrative burden on the district.
The school board of a sending district could adopt a resolution to restrict enrollment of its students in a choice district to a maximum of 10% of the number of students per grade level per year in the sending district and to 15% of the total number of students enrolled in the sending district. This resolution would be subject to approval by the commissioner upon certain determinations, including the determination that the enrollment restriction is in the best interest of the district’s students. The bill provides that a student attending a choice district as a choice student is entitled to remain enrolled in that school until graduation.
Transportation, or aid in-lieu-of transportation, would be provided to an elementary school pupil who lives more than two miles from the choice district school of attendance and to a secondary school pupil who lives more than two and one-half miles from the choice district school of attendance, provided the choice district school is not more than 20 miles from the residence of the pupil. Transportation, or aid in-lieu-of transportation, would be the responsibility of the sending district.
A choice district is required to establish and maintain a parent information center. The center would collect and disseminate information about participating programs and schools and assist parents and guardians in submitting applications for enrollment of students in an appropriate program and school.
This bill recognizes the choice districts established under the expired interdistrict public school choice program and provides that those choice districts will be permitted to continue operation as if they had been approved under the provisions of the bill. Funding for choice students was addressed in the “School Funding Reform Act of 2008,” and aid for these students will continue to be calculated pursuant to that law under section 20 of P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-62).
The bill repeals the sections of law which established the five-year interdistrict public school choice program which expired in 2005.
The committee amended the bill to:
· Delete a requirement that the proposed choice district’s application include a provision for screening out students who are applying to the district for athletic, extracurricular, or social reasons;
· Provide that under the choice program transportation will be provided by the sending district, rather than the district, either sending or choice, designated in the choice district application;
· Permit students through grade 12 to apply to the choice program, instead of only through grade 9 as provided in the bill as originally introduced;
· Eliminate the authority of choice districts to evaluate a prospective student on “reasonable criteria,” while continuing to permit the district to evaluate on the student’s interest in the program offered by the school;
· Permit choice districts to fill openings that are not able to be filled by public school students who meet the attendance requirements of the bill, with public school students who do not meet the attendance requirements and nonpublic school students;
· Limit the enrollment restrictions a sending district may place on its students seeking to attend choice district schools;
· Require that a choice district post on its website information about participating programs and schools;
· Require that the annual report by the commissioner on the effectiveness of the choice program be posted on the department’s website; and
· Delete references to “receiving district” and replace them with “choice district.”