ASSEMBLY, No. 597

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblyman LUSTBADER

An Act creating a school tax policy funding commission.

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

    1. The Legislature finds and declares that over the past 21 years, the State Supreme Court has declared three school funding statutes unconstitutional, including the current Quality Education Act (QEA); that for the past two years, the schools have been funded by temporary measures which have essentially frozen State aid; that today the State seems no closer to a funding formula which can provide both an equitable source of revenue and an equitable distribution of that revenue; that it is time for the Legislature to take action to solve the school funding crisis rather than reacting to the decisions of the Supreme Court; and that is appropriate to establish a commission with a mandate to resolve the current crisis of the funding and distribution of school aid.

    2. There is created a commission to be known as the "School Tax Policy Funding Commission." The commission shall consist of seven members selected as follows: two members to be appointed by the President of the Senate, which members shall not be of the same political party; two members to be appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, which members shall not be of the same political party; and three public members with knowledge and experience in the area of public and school finance to be appointed by the Governor, no more than two of whom shall be members of the same political party.

    3. All appointments shall be made within 30 days after the effective date of this act. Vacancies in the membership of the commission shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments were made. Members of the commission shall serve without compensation.

    4. The commission shall organize within 30 days after the appointment of its members and shall select a chairperson and a vice chairperson from among its members and a secretary who need not be a member of the commission.

    5. It shall be the duty of the commission to study the issues associated with the funding of the public schools.

    6. The commission shall be entitled to call to its assistance and avail itself of the services of the employees of any State, county or municipal department, board, bureau, commission or agency as it may require and as may be available to it for its purposes.

    7. The commission may meet and hold hearings at the place or places it designates during the sessions or recesses of the Legislature and shall issue a final report of its findings and recommendations, including any recommended legislation, to the Governor and the Legislature no later than six months following its organizational meeting.

    8. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire 30 days after the submission of the final report.

STATEMENT

    This bill creates a commission to be known as the "School Tax Policy Funding Commission." The commission would consist of seven members selected as follows: two members to be appointed by the President of the Senate, which members shall not be of the same political party; two members to be appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, which members shall not be of the same political party; and three public members with knowledge and experience in area of public and school finance to be appointed by the Governor, no more than two of whom shall be members of the same political party.

    It is the duty of the commission to study the issues associated with the funding of education.

    The commission is required to issue a final report of its findings and recommendations, including any recommended legislation, to the Governor and the Legislature no later than six months following its organizational meeting.

    This bill is a companion bill to A , which freezes the property tax for school purposes at the amounts assessed, levied and collected for the 1995-96 school year. It is the purpose of that bill to impose a effective deadline of January 1, 1996, by which the commission will have issued a report and the Legislature and Governor will have approved legislation to provide a new method for the funding and distribution of school aid. In its finding of July 12, 1994, that the QEA was unconstitutional, the Supreme Court retained jurisdiction and indicated that it may intervene if a new funding statute is not in place by September, 1996.

Creates the "School Tax Policy Funding Commission."