SENATE, No. 953
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED MARCH 14, 1996
By Senator MacINNES
An Act concerning certain school district administrative expenses and amending P.L.1995, c.236.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 3 of P.L.1995, c.236 (C.18A:7E-8) is amended to read as follows:
3. a. Any school district whose budgeted per pupil administrative spending for the preceding school year exceeds the median budgeted per pupil administrative spending for the preceding school year for districts of the same operating type by the percentage indicated in subsection c. of this section shall have its school aid reduced by the dollar amount of the excess. The penalty shall not exceed 10% of the district's budgeted administrative spending. All school districts shall be notified of their per pupil administrative costs and the applicable median per pupil cost by October 1 of the year preceding the affected year, and any adjustments caused by subsequent restorations of municipal reductions or proposals to exceed the permissible maximum net budget shall be made no later than November 1 of that year.
b. Administrative spending shall include expenditures for improvement of instruction services and other support services - instructional staff; support services-general administration; support services-school administration; business and other support services, including salaries, purchased professional services, purchased technical services, other purchased services, supplies and materials, interest on current loans, and miscellaneous expenditures; and the prorata share of fringe benefits for salaries included in the preceding categories for the employer's share of Social Security, pension payments other than for the Teachers' Pension and Annuity Fund, unemployment compensation, and other generally recognized employee benefits. Administrative spending shall not include expenditures for in-service teacher training and professional development [or for]; the preparation, printing and mailing of sample ballots; or the cost of any regionalization feasibility study. The amount of any judgments against the school district shall be deducted from the total amount of expenditures. All expenditures shall be based originally upon the district's budgeted data of the preceding year and adjusted in the subsequent year based upon audited data; however, the median budgeted per pupil administrative spending calculated for districts of the same operating type pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall not be recalculated.
c. The percentage shall equal 129% in the first year of implementation, 128% in the second year, 127% in the third year, 126% in the fourth year and 125% in the fifth year and each succeeding year.
d. A school district may appeal a penalty imposed pursuant to this section to the Commissioner of Education. The appeal shall be based on the following factors:
(1) an error made by the Department of Education in calculating the administrative spending of the school district;
(2) an error made by the school district in reporting data to the department;
(3) costs associated with services provided by a school district to other districts in joint educational or service arrangements other than a sending-receiving relationship; and
(4) any other factor deemed appropriate by the commissioner.
(cf: P.L.1995,c.278,s.43)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill excludes the cost of any regionalization feasibility study from the definition of administrative spending in the "School Efficiency Program Act" (P.L.1995, c.236). Under that program, a school district may receive a financial penalty for excessive administrative spending. The penalty is the amount of the district's per pupil administrative spending during a school year, which exceeds the median budgeted per pupil spending for similar districts by a specified percentage, and the amount is deducted from the State aid otherwise payable to the district.
Excludes cost of regionalization feasibility study from administrative spending under School Efficiency Program.