Bill Text: NJ S171 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes school district grant program in DOE to reimburse public school teachers for classroom material expenditures.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee [S171 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S171-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator VINCENT J. POLISTINA
District 2 (Atlantic)
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes school district grant program in DOE to reimburse public school teachers for classroom material expenditures.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act establishing a teacher classroom expense grant program and supplementing chapter 6 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. There is established in the Department of Education a grant program in which a public school teacher employed on a full-time basis in a school district shall receive annual reimbursement for expenditures incurred by the teacher for classroom supplies purchased for use during the school year. Except as otherwise provided pursuant to subsection b. of this section, the amount of the annual reimbursement for a teacher shall not exceed $250 per school year.
b. The department shall annually provide to each school district grant funds in an amount equal to $250 multiplied by the number of full-time teachers employed in the district. An eligible teacher who wants to apply for reimbursement shall submit receipts for the purchase of the classroom supplies in the manner prescribed by the district. In the event that all eligible teachers have received reimbursement of their expenditures in an amount equal to $250, or the actual amount of those expenditures if less than $250, any remaining grant funds shall be used to reimburse teachers whose expenditures for classroom supplies purchased for use during the school year exceeded $250. Each teacher whose expenditures exceeded $250 shall receive a proportionate share of the remaining school district grant funds. If any funds remain at the end of the school budget year following the reimbursement of teachers pursuant to this subsection, the school district shall hold the funds in reserve to be applied for the same purpose in the subsequent school budget year. The school district shall report the amount of the reserve funds to the department.
c. To the extent permitted by federal law, the costs borne by the State to ensure that a school district receives grant funds pursuant to subsection b. of this section shall be paid from federal funds allocated to the State under the federal "American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act," Pub.L.117-2, or any other federal funding made available to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
d. As used in this section,
"classroom supplies" means books, computer equipment including related software
and services, and other equipment, supplies, and supplementary materials used
by a public school teacher in the classroom. Classroom supplies shall not
include nonathletic supplies for courses of instruction in health or physical
education.
2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall first be applicable to the first full school year following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a grant program in the Department of Education to provide annual reimbursement to public school teachers employed on a full-time basis for expenditures incurred by a teacher for classroom supplies purchased for use during the school year. The amount of the annual reimbursement per teacher would not exceed $250 per school year, unless sufficient funds remain available to reimburse those teachers who spent more than $250 for classroom supplies.
Under the bill, a teacher who wants to apply for reimbursement will submit receipts for the purchase of classroom supplies in the manner prescribed by the district. In the event that all eligible teachers have received reimbursement for their expenditures in an amount equal to $250, or the actual amount of their expenditures if less than $250, any remaining grant funds will be used to reimburse teachers whose expenditures for classroom supplies for the school year exceeded $250. If any grant funds remain at the end of the school budget year, the district will hold the funds in reserve to be applied for the same purpose in the subsequent school budget year. The school district is required to report the amount of the reserve funds to the department.
The bill requires that the costs borne by the State to provide the grant funds would be paid from federal funds allocated to the State under the federal "American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act," or any other federal funding made available to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
