SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

SENATE, No. 828

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: MAY 8, 1997

 

      The Senate Education Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 828. 

      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.