Bill Text: NJ S1488 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Allows choice districts to enroll students on tuition basis under certain circumstances.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-01 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee [S1488 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-S1488-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator TROY SINGLETON
District 7 (Burlington)
SYNOPSIS
Allows choice districts to enroll students on tuition basis under certain circumstances.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program and amending and supplementing P.L.2010, c.65.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 8 of P.L.2010, c.65 (C.18A:36B-21) is amended to read as follows:
8. a. (1) The school board of a sending district may adopt a resolution to restrict enrollment of its students in a choice district to a maximum of 10% of the number of students per grade level per year limited by any resolution adopted pursuant to this paragraph and 15% of the total number of students enrolled in the sending district, provided that the resolution shall be subject to approval by the commissioner upon a determination that the resolution is in the best interest of the district's students and that it will not adversely affect the district's programs, services, operations, or fiscal conditions, and that the resolution will not adversely affect or limit the diversity of the remainder of the student population in the district who do not participate in the choice program.
(2) Enrollment restriction percentages adopted by any resolution pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection shall not be compounded from year to year and shall be based upon the enrollment counts for the year preceding the sending district's initial year of participation in the choice program, except that in any year of the program in which there is an increase in enrollment, the percentage enrollment restriction may be applied to the increase and the result added to the preceding year's count of students eligible to attend a choice district. If there is a decrease in enrollment at any time during the duration of the program, the number of students eligible to attend a choice district shall be the number of students enrolled in the choice program in the initial year of the district's participation in the program, provided that a student attending a choice district school shall be entitled to remain enrolled in that school until graduation.
(3) The calculation of the enrollment of a sending district shall be based on the enrollment count as reported on the Application for State School Aid in October preceding the school year during which the restriction on enrollment shall be applicable.
b. [A] Except as otherwise provided pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), a choice district shall not be eligible to enroll students on a tuition basis pursuant to N.J.S.18A:38-3 while participating in the interdistrict public school choice program. Any student enrolled on a tuition basis prior to the establishment of the choice program shall be entitled to remain enrolled in the choice district as a choice student.
(cf: P.L.2010, c.65, s.8)
2. (New section) In the event that the commissioner imposes a limit in any school year on the number of choice students that a choice district may enroll and the district has choice student openings that exceed that limit, the choice district may enroll students on a tuition basis once the district has reached the choice student limit imposed by the commissioner. The number of students enrolled on a tuition basis shall not exceed the number of choice student openings identified by the choice district for the school year.
If in a subsequent school year the commissioner eliminates the choice student limit, a student enrolled on a tuition basis shall have the first option to enroll in the choice district as a choice student. The choice district shall not enroll additional choice students until such time as the tuition-paying students who have opted to enroll in the district as a choice student have been converted to choice student status.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Under the "Interdistrict Public School Choice Program Act," P.L.2010, c.65 (C.18A:36B-14 et seq.), a school district that has been approved by the Commissioner of Education as a choice district may enroll students across district lines without the payment of tuition. Under the program, a choice district identifies the number of student openings in each school available for the enrollment of choice students. Over the past several school years, however, the commissioner has imposed a limit on the number of choice students that a choice district may enroll despite the fact that the district may have additional openings for choice students.
This bill provides that in the event that the commissioner imposes such a limit in any school year on the number of choice students that a choice district may enroll and the choice district has additional openings for choice students that exceeds that limit, the choice district may also enroll students on a tuition basis once the district has reached the choice student limit imposed by the commissioner. The number of students enrolled on a tuition basis may not exceed the number of choice student openings identified by the choice district for the school year.
If in a subsequent school year the commissioner eliminates the choice student limit, a student enrolled on a tuition basis will have the first option to enroll in the choice district as a choice student. The choice district may not enroll additional choice students until such time as the tuition-paying students who have opted to enroll in the district as a choice student have been converted to choice student status.
