Bill Text: NJ S3676 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes panel to study implementation of tier classification system with related cost factors for special education categorical State aid and requires State Board of Education to adopt through regulations panel's determinations.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 7-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-05-13 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee [S3676 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-S3676-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ROBERT W. SINGER
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Pennacchio, T.Kean, Corrado, Oroho and O'Scanlon
SYNOPSIS
Establishes panel to study implementation of tier classification system with related cost factors for special education categorical State aid and requires State Board of Education to adopt through regulations panel's determinations.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning special education State 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. a. The Commissioner of Education shall establish a panel to conduct a study on the implementation of a tier classification system based on categories of disability and on the appropriate per pupil cost factors for each tier classification for the purpose of determining special education categorical State aid.
b. The commissioner shall solicit nominations for individuals to be appointed to the panel from the following organizations: the ARC of New Jersey, the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey, the ASAH, the New Jersey School Boards Association, the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, the New Jersey Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, the New Jersey Association of School Business Officials, the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, the New Jersey Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Garden State Coalition of Schools, the New Jersey Charter Schools Association, Better Education for Kids, and JerseyCAN. The commissioner shall determine the number of individuals on the panel and shall appoint panel members from the nominees. The commissioner shall include on the panel from the nominees, to the extent feasible, individuals who represent various types of school districts throughout the State, such as urban, suburban, and rural school districts, and school districts of various enrollment sizes.
Members of the panel shall serve without compensation but shall be entitled to their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties pursuant to this act.
c. The commissioner shall convene the panel within 60 days of the effective date of this act. The panel shall meet at such times and places as the commissioner shall designate and the meetings shall be facilitated by Department of Education staff.
d. The panel shall issue a report to the State Board of Education no later than 180 days following the date on which the panel is initially convened. The report shall include the panel's determinations on the number of tier classifications, the specific disability categories to be included in each tier classification, and the per pupil cost factor to be assigned each tier classification. The State board shall, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), adopt the panel's determinations. The cost factors determined by the panel and set forth in State board regulations shall be used to distribute special education categorical State aid for school districts in the 2020-2021 school year and thereafter until such time as the cost factors are adjusted in the Educational Adequacy Report issued pursuant to section 4 of P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-46).
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Commissioner of Education to establish a panel to conduct a study on the implementation of a tier classification system based on categories of disability and on the appropriate per pupil cost factors for each tier classification for the purpose of determining special education categorical State aid.
Under the provisions of the bill, the commissioner will solicit nominations for individuals to be included on the panel from the organizations enumerated in the bill. The commissioner will appoint the panel members and determine the size of the panel. The commissioner will include on the panel, from the nominees and to the extent feasible, individuals who represent various types of school districts, such as urban, suburban, and rural school districts, and districts of various enrollment sizes.
The commissioner will convene the panel within 60 days of the effective date of the bill. Meetings of the panel will be at times and places designated by the commissioner and Department of Education staff will facilitate the meetings.
No later than 180 days after the panel is initially convened, it will issue a report to the State Board of Education. The report will include the panel's determination on the number of tier classifications, the specific disability categories to be included in each tier classification, and the per pupil cost factors to be assigned each tier classification. Under the provisions of the bill, the State board is required to adopt the panel's determinations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.). The cost factors determined by the panel and set forth in State board regulations will be used to distribute special education categorical State aid for school districts in the 2020-2021 school year and thereafter until they are adjusted in the Educational Adequacy Report issued pursuant to section 4 of P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-46).
