Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH PENNACCHIO
District 26 (Essex, Morris and Passaic)
Senator ANTHONY M. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris and Somerset)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator Holzapfel
SYNOPSIS
Requires board of education to publicly post full meeting agenda 48 hours prior to meeting.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning board of education meetings and amending N.J.S.18A:10-6.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. N.J.S.18A:10-6 is amended to read as follows:
All board meetings shall be public and each board shall hold a meeting at least once every two months during the period in which the schools in the district are in session. Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, each board shall post on its Internet website in an easily accessible location the full meeting agenda for all board meetings 48 hours prior to the commencement of the meeting. The full meeting agenda shall include a detailed description of each item on the agenda.
All meetings shall be called to commence not later than eight P.M. of the designated day but, if a quorum be not present at the time for which the meeting is called, the member or members present may recess the meeting to a time not later than nine P.M. of said day and, if no quorum be present at that time, the member or members present may adjourn the meeting to commence not later than eight P.M. of another day, not more than seven days following the date for which the original meeting was called, but no further recess or adjournment of the meeting shall be made.
Public announcements of time and day to which any meeting is so recessed or adjourned shall be made at the time of the recess or adjournment.
(cf: N.J.S.18A:10-6)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Under current law, all board of education meetings must be public and each board is required to hold a meeting at least once every two months during the period in which the schools in the district are in session. This bill amends current law to also require a board to post on its Internet website in an easily accessible location the full meeting agenda for all board meetings 48 hours prior to the commencement of the meeting. The bill requires that the full meeting agenda will include a detailed description of each item on the agenda.
Under the “Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA),” P.L.1975, c.231 (C.10:4-6 et seq.), public bodies, including boards of education, empowered as voting bodies to perform governmental functions, are required to give 48 hours of advance notice giving the time, date, location, and to the extent known, the agenda of their scheduled meetings. This bill codifies the 48 hours of advance notice requirement into the section of law specifically pertaining to boards of education, and helps enhance transparency and bring consistency to boards of education by requiring each board to post on its Internet website in an easily accessible location the full meeting agenda for all board meetings 48 hours prior to the commencement of the meeting. The full meeting agenda must include a detailed description of each item on the agenda.