ASSEMBLY, No. 321

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblymen PASCRELL and ROCCO

An Act providing for the development of character education programs and supplementing chapter 35 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

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

    1. The Legislature finds and declares that character education is a legitimate and important function of public education, that character education should convey to our young people the common core values which have united our society, and that the identification of these values should occur at the community level.

    2. As used in this act, "character education" means programs in the schools intended to foster the development in each child of a commitment to our society's common core values. Among these core values may be compassion, courtesy, honesty, integrity, responsibility, self-discipline, self-respect and tolerance.

    3. The Commissioner of Education shall prepare and disseminate to boards of education materials which will assist local districts to incorporate character education in their existing curricula.

    4. Boards of education are encouraged to include character education in the curriculum for local districts. Boards which seek to do so shall enlist community involvement in developing such curriculum.

    5. The Commissioner of Education shall consider a viable character education program to be an acceptable part of the curriculum of any district and a legitimate expenditure of any district's State aid funds under the "Quality Education Act of 1990," P.L.1990, c.52 (C.18A:7D-1 et al).

    6. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill directs the Commissioner of Education to prepare and disseminate to boards of education materials which will assist districts to incorporate character education in their existing curricula. The bill also encourages school districts to incorporate character education into their curricula and provides that districts which do so shall enlist community involvement in that process. As used in the bill, "character education" means programs intended to foster the development in each child of a commitment to our society's common core values.

Encourages the development of character education programs.