LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE TO

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 1088

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JULY 9, 1997

      Senate Bill 1088 (1R) of 1997 limits the responsibility of a school district to pay for the tuition and transportation costs of a child if the child is homeless and the district is the child’s designated district of residence. When the original statute was enacted, it was assumed that a child's designation as homeless would be a temporary one. What has occurred in some instances, however, is that although a child may continue to live in another community for an extended period of time, that child continues to be designated as homeless, and the designated district of residence must continue its responsibility for transportation and tuition costs.

      This bill provides that a school district which is determined to be the district of residence for a homeless child who is attending school in another district would only be required to pay for any tuition and transportation costs incurred by that district until the end of the school year. Similarly, if a child who is designated homeless is residing in another district but attending school in the district of residence, the district of residence would only be required to provide transportation services until the end of the school year. In subsequent years, the district in which the child is domiciled as of the Application for State School Aid (ASSA) filing date would become the district of residence and would pay the costs of tuition and transportation. These provisions would not apply to a child who is in a public or nonpublic transitional or temporary residential facility.

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) is not able to estimate the transportation and tuition costs to local school districts for such children, since there is no data collected concerning pupils designated as homeless.

      This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.

This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67.