SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 82

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 3, 1996

      The Senate Education Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 82 with committee amendments. 

      As amended, this bill directs the Commissioner of Education and the Commission on Higher Education to establish a dual enrollment program for public secondary school students. Under the program, an eligible student would be awarded both secondary and post-secondary credit for a college course taken at Rutgers, the State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, or a State or county college. The bill requires that each institution permit students who are participating in the dual enrollment program to enroll without payment of tuition charges in regularly scheduled courses, provided that available classroom space permits and that tuition paying students constitute the minimum number required for the course. The institution would be allowed to charge a registration fee subject to the approval of the commission.

      Under the bill's provisions, to be eligible to participate in the program, a student must be in the third or fourth year of high school in a school district which elects to participate in the program, have a grade point average of at least 3.0, and be recommended by the school principal for enrollment in the program. A student who does not have a 3.0 grade point average, but whose participation is recommended by the school principal as in the student's best interest, would also be eligible to enroll in the program. The student must also meet all pertinent admissions and course requirements of the institution and have the written permission of the parent or guardian.

      The bill directs the commissioner and the commission to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the dual enrollment program and its impact on areas such as the academic progress and high school completion rate of its participants, continuation of education after high school, expanded curriculum opportunities for high school students, and the facilitation of articulation agreements between high schools and institutions of higher education.

      An amendment was adopted to provide that a school district must elect to participate in the program.

      This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 1996 session pending technical review. As reported, the bill includes the changes required by technical review, which has been performed.