Sponsored by:
Senator JAMES W. HOLZAPFEL
District 10 (Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires DOE to release to school district upon request data and software program algorithms used to calculate State school aid.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the calculation of State school aid and supplementing P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-43 et al.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1 of P.L.1995, c.23 (C.47:1A-1.1 et seq.) or any other section of law to the contrary, the Department of Education shall provide to any school district that requests the information, the data for all school districts used to calculate State school aid pursuant to P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-43 et al.) and P.L.2018, c.67 (C.18A:7F-67 et al.), including the data necessary to calculate and reconcile all school districts' adequacy budgets, equalization aid, and local shares, and the details of any adjustments made when the calculated local share exceeds the adequacy budget for every such district in the State, and the software program algorithms used by the department to calculate State school aid, regardless of whether or not the department considers the software program to be proprietary.
The department shall also provide a reconciliation, broken down by district, that demonstrates that total local share plus total equalization aid equals the total of all adequacy budgets Statewide in accordance with sections 10 and 11 of P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-52 and C.18A:7F-53).
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Department of Education to provide to any school district that requests the information, the data for all school districts used to calculate State school aid, including the data necessary to calculate and reconcile all school districts' adequacy budgets, equalization aid, and local shares, and the details of any adjustments made when the calculated local share exceeds the adequacy budget for every such district in the State, and the software program algorithms used by the department to calculate State school aid. The department would be required to provide the software program regardless of whether or not the department considers the software program to be proprietary.
Under the bill's provisions, the department would also be required to provide a reconciliation, broken down by district, that demonstrates that total local share plus total equalization aid equals the total of all adequacy budgets Statewide in accordance with sections 10 and 11 of the "School Funding Reform Act of 2008" (SFRA), P.L.2007, c.260.
As some school districts grapple with reductions in State school aid under the provisions of P.L.2018 c.67 (C.18A:7F-67 et al.), commonly referred to as S-2, it is only fair that increased transparency on the State school aid calculations be provided to school districts. These school districts need to have the information required for them to determine that the State school aid formula has been calculated correctly and in accordance with the law for all school districts in the State.