Bill Text: NJ S2126 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires school district to close schools on religious holiday included on list of holidays promulgated by Commissioner of Education if 10 percent or more of students observe holiday.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee [S2126 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2020-S2126-Introduced.html

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SENATE, No. 2126

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

219th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED MARCH 16, 2020

 

 

Sponsored by:

Senator  VIN GOPAL

District 11 (Monmouth)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Requires school district to close schools on religious holiday included on list of holidays promulgated by Commissioner of Education if 10 percent or more of students observe holiday.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

  

An Act concerning the closure of public schools on certain holidays 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.    In the event that a religious holiday included on the list of holidays prescribed by the Commissioner of Education pursuant to N.J.S.18A:36-16 is observed by 10 percent or more of the students enrolled in a school district, the board of education shall close the schools of the district on that religious holiday.

 

     2.    This act shall take effect in the first full school year following the date of enactment.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     Under current law, the absence of a student from school due to the observance of a religious holiday must be recorded by the school district as an excused absence.  Any transcript or form on which information concerning a student's attendance is requested, may include with respect to absences only those absences that are not due to the observance of a religious holiday.  The Commissioner of Education annually promulgates a list of religious holidays to which the excused absence requirement is applicable.

     This bill provides that in the event that a religious holiday included on the list of holidays promulgated by the commissioner is observed by 10 percent or more of the students enrolled in a school district, the board of education must close the schools of the district on that religious holiday.