A3618

An Act concerning regional school districts and supplementing chapter 13 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. a. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the governing body of a municipality whose non-operating district was eliminated on July 1, 2009, together with the board of education of a constituent district of a limited purpose regional district with a grade seven through grade 12 configuration that has experienced a decline in its resident enrollment that is greater than 25 percent from October 2008 to October 2016 and whose resident enrollment as of October 2016 was less than 400 students, may study and investigate whether it is advisable to establish a limited purpose regional school district with a grade pre-kindergarten through grade six configuration. If both the governing body of the municipality and the board of education of the constituent district determine that it is advisable and the commissioner upon consultation agrees, the governing body of the municipality and the board of education of the constituent district shall by resolution frame and adopt a proposal to that effect and shall submit upon the same day, in the constituent district and in the municipality, at a special school election, or at an election to be held on the third Tuesday in April or on the date of the general election, the question whether or not the proposal shall be approved, briefly describing the contents of the resolution and stating the date of its adoption. They may also submit at the special election as part of the proposal any other provision which may be submitted at such a special election under the provisions of this chapter.

If the proposal is adopted in the municipality and in the constituent district pursuant to N.J.S.18A:13-35, and the proposal set forth in subsection b. of this section is also adopted, the municipality and the constituent district shall upon the effective date of the proposal adopted pursuant to this subsection or the proposal adopted pursuant to subsection b. of this section, whichever effective date is later, create a limited purpose regional district with a grade pre-kindergarten through grade six configuration and the municipality shall cease to be a constituent district of the new district established pursuant to section 2 of P.L.2009, c.78 (C.18A:8-44).

b. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the governing body of a municipality whose non-operating district was eliminated on July 1, 2009, together with the board of education of a limited purpose regional district with a grade seven through grade 12 configuration that has experienced a decline in its resident enrollment that is greater than 25 percent from October 2008 to October 2016 and whose resident enrollment as of October 2016 was less than 400 students, may study and investigate whether it is advisable to enlarge the regional district to include the municipality therein. If both the governing body of the municipality and the board of education of the regional district determine that it is advisable and the commissioner upon consultation agrees, the governing body of the municipality and the board of education of the regional district shall by resolution frame and adopt a proposal to that effect and shall submit upon the same day, in the regional district and in the municipality, at a special school election, or at an election to be held on the third Tuesday in April or on the date of the general election, the question whether or not the proposal shall be approved, briefly describing the contents of the resolution and stating the date of its adoption. They may also submit at the special election as part of the proposal any other provision which may be submitted at such a special election under the provisions of this chapter.

If the proposal is adopted in the municipality and in the regional district pursuant to N.J.S.18A:13-44, and the proposal set forth in subsection a. of this section is also adopted, the municipality shall upon the effective date of the proposal adopted pursuant to this subsection or the proposal adopted pursuant to subsection a. of this section, whichever effective date is later, become a constituent member of that regional district and cease to be a member of any other regional district with a grade nine through twelve configuration.

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill provides a process for permitting the governing body of a municipality whose non-operating district was eliminated in 2009, to form a new limited purpose regional district for the provision of pre-kindergarten through grade six, and to join another existing limited purpose regional district for the purpose of providing grade seven through grade twelve. The bill specifies that the new limited purpose regional district for the elementary school grades may be formed by the municipality only with a constituent district of a limited purpose regional district with a grade seven through grade 12 configuration that has experienced a decline in its resident enrollment that is greater than 25 percent from October 2008 to October 2016 and whose resident enrollment as of October 2016 was less than 400 students. Pursuant to these criteria, there are only two constituent districts with which the municipality may form the new regional district for elementary school education, Atlantic Highlands School District or Highlands School District. For the purposes of providing grade seven through grade twelve, the municipality is permitted to seek to become a constituent member of Henry Hudson Regional School District, which currently consists of only two constituent districts, Atlantic Highlands School District and Highlands School District.

Under the provisions of the bill, the municipality along with the applicable board of education will study and investigate whether it is advisable to form or enlarge, as appropriate, the limited purpose regional district. If the municipality and the board of education determine that it is advisable, and the Commissioner of Education agrees, a proposal to that effect will be submitted to the voters. If both proposals are adopted, on whichever proposal’s effective date is later, the municipality will form a new limited purpose regional district for pre-kindergarten through grade six purposes and will become a member of Henry Hudson Regional School District for grade seven through grade 12 purposes. In addition, the municipality at that time will cease to be a constituent district of the new district established upon the elimination of the non-operating district, and will also cease to be a member of any other regional district with a grade nine through grade twelve configuration.