Bill Text: NJ A5148 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Permits excused absence for student enlisted or planning to enlist Armed Forces of United States or National Guard.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-12-16 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee [A5148 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A5148-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman DAWN FANTASIA
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
SYNOPSIS
Permits excused absence for student enlisted or planning to enlist in Armed Forces of the United States or National Guard.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning excused absences from public school for military enlistment activities and supplementing chapter 36 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, a pupil of a public school enrolled in grade 12 who enlists, or plans to enlist, in military service and is absent from school to complete a military enlistment activity shall have the absence for that purpose recorded as an excused absence on the pupil's attendance record. Any transcript, application, employment form, or any similar form on which information concerning a pupil's attendance record is requested shall not show excused absences authorized pursuant to this subsection. In making a determination on whether a student has a perfect attendance record for the school year, a public school shall not consider as an absence an excused absence authorized pursuant to this subsection.
b. A pupil shall provide any documentation the superintendent or administrative principal of the school district deems necessary to prove the pupil meets the requirements for the excused absence pursuant to subsection a. of this section.
c. As used in this section:
"Military enlistment activity" means any activity required by the Armed Forces of the United States or the National Guard to be eligible to enlist in military service, including, but not limited to, any testing, medical or physical evaluations, interviews, and fingerprinting.
"Military service" means the active and reserve components of the Armed Forces of the United States, or the National Guard.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill permits excused absences for students enlisted or planning to enlist in the active and reserve components of the Armed Forces of the United States or the National Guard.
The bill requires a student enrolled in grade 12 who enlists, or plans to enlist, in the Armed Forces of the United States and who is absent from school to complete a military enlistment activity to receive a State-excused absence for that purpose. The absence is not to be included on a student's transcript, application, employment form, or any similar form requested. The absence is also not to be considered when determining if a student has a perfect attendance record for the school year.
Under the bill, a military enlistment activity means any activity required by the Armed Forces of the United States to be eligible to enlist including, but not limited to, any testing, medical or physical evaluations, interviews, and fingerprinting.
