STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator ROBERT W. SINGER
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator Gopal
SYNOPSIS
Establishes pilot program in which certain selected school districts equip school buses with global positioning systems and DOE develops school bus tracking application.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act establishing a school bus pilot program in the Department of Education.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Education shall establish, supervise, and fund a four-year pilot program in which a selected school district shall equip each of its school buses with a global positioning system in accordance with subsection b. of this section and in which the Department of Education shall develop a school bus tracking application in accordance with subsection c. of this section. In order to be eligible for selection under the pilot program, a school district shall own and operate its own fleet of school buses. Subject to the availability of funds appropriated for the pilot program, the commissioner shall, based on a competitive application process, select at least one school district in each the northern, central, and southern regions of the State. As used in this section, "school bus" means a school bus as defined under R.S.39:1-1.
b. A school district selected for participation in the pilot program shall equip each of its school buses with a global positioning system that provides information about the location and speed of the school bus in real time. The global positioning system shall transmit information to the mobile application developed pursuant to subsection c. of this section. The global positioning system shall be operational at all times the school bus is in use to transport students. The installation of the global positioning system and the data collected from the global positioning system shall conform to guidelines to be issued by the commissioner, in consultation with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.
c. The commissioner, in consultation with the Office of Information Technology and the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, shall contract with a private or public entity to develop and maintain a mobile application to be used by each school district selected for participation in the pilot program. The mobile application shall allow an authorized parent or guardian of a student being transported by a school bus to track in real time the location and speed of the school bus on which the student is riding. The mobile application shall be capable of being accessed by an authorized parent or guardian, through installation on the authorized parent or guardian's cellular telephone or other mobile electronic devices and shall receive information from the global positioning system installed on the school bus pursuant to subsection b. of this section.
2. This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Commissioner of Education to establish a four-year pilot program in which a selected school district will equip each of its school buses with a global positioning system (GPS) and in which the Department of Education will develop a school bus tracking application. To be eligible for selection under the pilot program, a school district is required to own and operate its own fleet of school buses. The commissioner will select at least one school district in each the northern, central, and southern regions of the State.
Each school district selected for participation in the pilot program will equip each of its school buses with a GPS, which will provide information about the location and speed of the school bus in real time and will be operational at all times the school bus is in use to transport students.
The GPS will transmit information to a mobile application that will allow an authorized parent or guardian of a student to track in real time the location and speed of the school bus on which the student is riding. The mobile application will be capable of being accessed by an authorized parent or guardian, through installation on the parent or guardian's cellular telephone or other mobile electronic devices. The bill requires the commissioner, in consultation with the Office of Information Technology and the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, to contract with a private or public entity to develop and maintain the mobile application to be used by each school district selected for participation in the pilot program.