Bill Text: NJ A5041 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: "S2 Appropriations Rescue Act"; appropriates $106.5 million to provide Emergency Supplemental Aid to certain school districts, including districts negatively impacted by effects of P.L.2018, c.67.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-14 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee [A5041 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A5041-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
"S2 Appropriations Rescue Act"; appropriates $106.5 million to provide Emergency Supplemental Aid to certain school districts, including districts negatively impacted by effects of P.L.2018, c.67.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning State school aid and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is appropriated from the Property Tax Relief Fund to the Department of Education the sum of $106,500,000 to provide Emergency Supplemental Aid to school districts meeting the eligibility criteria of subsection b. of this section, in amounts determined pursuant to the calculation in subsection c. of this section.
b. A school district shall be eligible for Emergency Supplemental Aid pursuant to this section if the district has been allocated a total amount of State school aid in the 2024-2025 school year that is:
(1) less than the district's adequacy budget calculated pursuant to section 9 of P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-51); and
(2) less than or equal to $19,000 per resident pupil, which shall be calculated as the result of dividing the total amount of State school aid in the 2024-2025 school year by the number of pupils counted for the purposes of determining resident enrollment, as that term is defined pursuant to section 3 of P.L.2007 c.260 (C.18A:7F-45), on the last school day prior to October 16, 2023; and
(3) either:
(a) less than or equal to the total amount of State school aid allocated to the district in the 2023-2024 school year; or
(b) greater than the total amount of State school aid allocated to the district in the 2023-2024 school year by up to $200,000.
c. The amount of Emergency Supplemental Aid provided to an eligible school district pursuant to this section shall be determined by multiplying $250 by the number of pupils counted for the purposes of determining resident enrollment, as that term is defined pursuant to section 3 of P.L.2007 c.260 (C.18A:7F-45), on the last school day prior to October 16, 2023.
d. As used in this section, "State school aid" means:
(1) in the 2024-2025 school year, the sum of the amount of Stabilized School Budget Aid allocated to a school district pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2024, c.13 and the following categories of State school aid, as allocated to a school district pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2024, c.22, the annual appropriations act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025: equalization aid, special education categorical aid, security categorical aid, transportation aid, adjustment aid, vocational expansion stabilization aid, educational adequacy aid, school choice aid, and military impact aid; and
(2) in the 2023-2024 school year, the sum of the following categories of State school aid, as allocated to a school district pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2023, c.74, the annual appropriations act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024: equalization aid, special education categorical aid, security categorical aid, transportation aid, adjustment aid, vocational expansion stabilization aid, educational adequacy aid, school choice aid, and military impact aid.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides a supplemental appropriation of $106.5 million from the Property Tax Relief Fund to the Department of Education to provide "Emergency Supplemental Aid" to certain school districts. The aid is to be distributed to school districts that have been allocated a total amount of State school aid in the 2024-2025 school year that is:
· less than the district's adequacy budget, which under current law represents the portion of the costs that a school district is expected to incur to provide a thorough and efficient education; and
· less than or equal to $19,000 per resident pupil; and
· either: less than or equal to the total amount of State school aid allocated to the district in the 2023-2024 school year; or greater than the total amount of State school aid allocated to the district in the 2023-2024 school year by up to $200,000.
The amount of Emergency Supplemental Aid provided to an eligible district pursuant to the bill is to be determined by multiplying $250 by the number of resident pupils in the district.
School districts from all parts of the State have experienced negative budgetary effects over the seven years following the enactment of P.L.2018, c.67, commonly referred to as "S2." The severity of these budgetary reductions have forced districts to lay off hundreds of teachers and staff, adopt half-day schedules, eliminate sports and clubs, reduce academic programming such as Advanced Placement classes, eliminate busing, and sell land and close schools just to balance their budgets. This educational funding crisis has affected hundreds of school districts representing an array of socioeconomic groups, from urban districts such as the City of East Orange, Jersey City, and Passaic City, to suburban districts such as Hillsborough Township, Freehold Regional School District, Old Bridge Township, Jackson Township, Toms River Regional School District, Brick Township, and Evesham Township, and extending to rural districts, such as Chesterfield Township, Lenape Regional School District, Estell Manor City, and Hardyston Township. This bill provides emergency restoration aid to help stabilize the budgets of these school districts, as well as 290 other districts, for the purpose of providing these children with a quality education.
