SENATE, No. 2319
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED DECEMBER 11, 1997
By Senator CAFIERO
An Act concerning fund-raising activities by public school districts and supplementing chapter 36 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statues.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that the past 25 years have witnessed significant changes in the structure of communities and families within the State; that the make-up of communities and neighborhoods has become more fluid as increasing numbers of people are required to move fairly frequently from one community to another due to professional and occupational demands; that both the rise in the number of families in which two parents are working outside of the home, as well as the increase in the number of single parent families in which the principal caretaker must be employed outside of the home, have meant that fewer parents are available during the day to provide direct supervision of their children's activities; and that all of these factors make it advisable to re-examine the fund-raising activities in which public school students have been engaged to determine their appropriateness in light of changing societal factors and to revise those practices when necessary to better protect the health and safety of students.
2. a. No public school or any school-sponsored organization, including, but not limited to, school sports team, band, extracurricular activity club, booster club, or parent-teacher organization, shall engage in any fund-raising activity that includes door-to-door sales by students. As used in this section, "door-to-door sales" means the selling of merchandise or the soliciting of funds off school grounds and outside of the student's home in which the student travels unsupervised by school district personnel from one residence or business to another within the community to raise funds for the school or school-sponsored organization.
b. No public school or any school-sponsored organization, including, but not limited to, school sports team, band, extracurricular activity club, booster club, or parent-teacher organization, shall engage in any fund-raising activity that includes incentives or bonus points awarded to students through which the student may earn a prize or other remuneration for the selling of merchandise or the raising of funds for the school or school-sponsored organization.
c. The Commissioner of Education shall monitor the compliance of school districts with the provisions of this act. If the commissioner finds that any district has violated the provisions of this act, he shall suspend the district from engaging in all fund-raising activities for at least one school year or for such longer period as he determines to be appropriate.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Recent events which have occurred within the State have demonstrated that public school district fund-raising activities which include unsupervised door-to-door sales by students can have tragic consequences; and that in light of those events it is necessary to examine the fund-raising practices of schools and school-sponsored organizations and to revise them to better protect the health and safety of students.
This bill prohibits school districts and school-sponsored organizations from engaging in fund-raising activities which include door-to-door sales by students. The bill defines door-to-door sales as the selling of merchandise or the soliciting of funds off school grounds and outside of the student's home in which the student travels unsupervised by school district personnel from one residence or business to another within the community to raise funds for the school or school-sponsored organization. The bill also prohibits school districts or school-sponsored organizations from engaging in any fund-raising activity that includes incentives or bonus points awarded to students through which the student may earn a prize or other remuneration for raising funds.
The bill directs the Commissioner of Education to monitor the compliance of school districts with the bill's requirements. If the commissioner finds that a school district has violated the prohibition on door-to-door sales or sales incentives, then he must suspend the district from engaging in all fund-raising activities for at least one school year or such longer period as he determines is appropriate.
Prohibits public school fund-raising activities which include unsupervised door-to-door sales by students.