Bill Text: NJ A4483 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
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) 2018-09-24 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee [A4483 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A4483-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman JOANN DOWNEY
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.
