ASSEMBLY, No. 2586

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED DECEMBER 16, 1996

By Assemblyman ZISA

An Act concerning public school facilities and supplementing chapter 17 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

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

    1. As used in this act, "Buildings and grounds supervisor" means a person employed by a school district who performs administrative and supervisory duties relating to the structural, mechanical and physical maintenance and repair of public school facilities and who consults with contractors and school district officials to ensure proper compliance and administration of the various laws, regulations, technical practices, operations and management techniques with regard to the maintenance and repair of public school facilities or assists in planning, organizing and directing all undertakings relating to the structural, mechanical and physical maintenance and repair of public school facilities, or a combination thereof.

    "Certified educational facilities manager" means a person who meets any one of the following criteria:

      i. has served as a buildings and grounds supervisor in a school district continuously for the five years prior to September 1, 2002; or

     ii. has a minimum of three years of experience in the field of buildings and grounds supervision and has graduated as a certified educational facilities manager from the New Jersey Educational Facility Management Program at Rutgers, The State University.

    2. Commencing September 1, 2002, no person shall be employed by a board of education of a school district as a buildings and grounds supervisor unless he is a certified educational facilities manager; except that when a vacancy occurs in a position in which the duties of a buildings and grounds supervisor are performed, a board may select, for a period not to exceed two years and commencing on the date of the vacancy, a person who is not a certified educational facilities manager to perform on an interim basis, the duties of a buildings and grounds supervisor.

    3. A board of education shall require any applicant for a permanent position as a buildings and grounds supervisor to provide documentation that he is a certified educational facilities manager.

    4. The State Board of Education shall adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), the rules and regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of this act.

    5. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    Currently, many school districts employ a buildings and grounds supervisor who is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the district's buildings and grounds and who performs administrative and supervisory duties relating to the structural, mechanical and physical maintenance and repair of public school facilities. However, there are no statutory or administrative provisions regulating this position.

     This bill requires that commencing on September 1, 2002, any buildings and grounds supervisor employed by a school district must be a certified educational facilities manager. The board of education of a school district shall require any applicant for a permanent position as a buildings and grounds supervisor to provide documentation that he is a certified educational facilities manager. The bill provides that a certified educational facilities manager is any person with three years of experience in the field of buildings and grounds supervision who has graduated as a certified educational facilities manager from the New Jersey Educational Facility Management Program at Rutgers, The State University or worked in the capacity of a buildings and grounds supervisor for the five years preceding September 1, 2002.

    Finally, the bill provides that when a vacancy occurs in the position of a buildings and grounds supervisor, a board may select, for a period not to exceed two years, a person who is not a certified educational facilities manager to perform on an interim basis, the duties of a buildings and grounds supervisor.

Requires school district buildings and grounds supervisors to be a certified educational facilities manager.