SENATE, No. 828
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 26, 1996
By Senator BUBBA
An Act concerning the termination of certain sending-receiving relationships and supplementing chapter 38 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 there are a number of school districts within the State which have experienced difficulty with the sending-receiving relationship in which the district is involved; and that it would be in the best interests of the operation of those districts and the education of the students within those districts to test possible solutions and gather information on the manner in which the difficulties of such relationships might be resolved.
2. a. There is established within the Department of Education a sending-receiving school district termination pilot program. The pilot program shall be conducted in Burlington, Camden and Passaic counties and shall provide that the board of education of any school district which is located in those counties which sends students to another school district may, notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.18A:38-13 and N.J.S.18A:38-21, terminate a sending receiving relationship if:
(1) The sending district has been in a sending-receiving relationship for not less than five years;
(2) The sending district has, by resolution, determined to enter into a new sending-receiving agreement for a period of not less than five years subsequent to the termination of its sending-receiving relationship;
(3) The Commissioner of Education makes a determination that the termination will not adversely affect the racial composition of the sending and receiving school districts; and
(4) A petition of the sending district to terminate the sending-receiving relationship has not been denied since January 1, 1988 by the Commissioner of Education, the State Board of Education, or the New Jersey courts for reasons based upon the impact on the racial composition of the pupil population of the districts.
b. Any school district which has taken final action to terminate its sending-receiving relationship pursuant to this section shall notify the receiving school district no later than December 1 of the school year prior to the school year in which the termination is to occur.
c. Any secondary school student in the sending district at the time of termination of the sending-receiving relationship shall be permitted to complete his secondary education within the receiving district. The sending-receiving relationship shall be continued for these students.
d. Five years following the effective date of this act, the Commissioner of Education shall submit to the Governor and the Legislature an evaluation of the sending-receiving district termination pilot program and a recommendation on the advisability of its continuation or expansion to other counties within the State.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a sending-receiving school district termination pilot program within the Department of Education. Under the bill's provisions, the pilot program is to be conducted in Burlington, Camden, and Passaic counties and within those counties any school district which sends its students to another school district may terminate that relationship under the following conditions: the sending-receiving relationship is at least five years old; the sending district has, by resolution, determined to enter into a new sending-receiving agreement for a period of not less than five years; and the Commissioner of Education determines that the termination will not adversely affect the racial composition of the sending and receiving districts. The bill provides that secondary school pupils would be permitted to continue in the receiving district until graduation. Five years following the bill's effective date, the Commissioner of Education is to submit to the Governor and the Legislature an evaluation of the sending-receiving district termination pilot program and a recommendation on the advisability of its continuation or expansion to other counties within the State.
Establishes a sending-receiving school district termination pilot program in DOE.