Bill Text: NJ S2066 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires school districts to report to DOE certain information on students removed from school pursuant to "Zero Tolerance for Guns Act."
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-10-07 - Received in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Education Committee [S2066 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-S2066-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator DIANE B. ALLEN
District 7 (Burlington and Camden)
SYNOPSIS
Requires school districts to report to DOE certain information on students removed from school pursuant to "Zero Tolerance for Guns Act."
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning violence in the public schools and supplementing chapter 17 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Each school district shall file annually with the Department of Education a report detailing the extent of violence and vandalism in the schools of the district. The report shall also include information on the number of pupils removed from a school's regular education program pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1995, c.127 (C.18A:37-8) and the disposition, if known, of the pupil by any law enforcement or prosecuting agency. This information shall be included in the annual report submitted by the Commissioner of Education to the Senate and General Assembly Education Committees pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1982, c.163 (C.18A:17-48).
b. The Commissioner of Education shall recognize school districts that initiate intervention programs designed to reduce the incidents of violence in the school district. Information regarding those intervention programs shall be made available to all school districts in an effort to promote the establishment of similar programs.
c. The State Board of Education shall promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), necessary to effectuate the provisions of this act.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires each school district to file annually with the Department of Education a report detailing the extent of violence and vandalism in the schools of the district. The department, in order to compile its report to the Senate and Assembly Education Committees on violence and vandalism in the public schools, already requires school districts to provide this information. This bill would make the district's reporting on violence and vandalism in the schools a statutory requirement.
The bill also requires that a district's report include information on the number of pupils who have been removed from a school's regular education program pursuant to the "Zero Tolerance for Guns Act," P.L.1995, c.127 (C.18A:37-7 et seq.), and the disposition, if known, of these pupils by any law enforcement or prosecuting agency. Under this law a pupil "who is convicted or adjudicated delinquent for possession of a firearm or a crime while armed with a firearm or found knowingly in possession of a firearm on any school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored function shall be immediately removed from the school's regular education program ...." Information on the number of pupils removed from the regular education program and the disposition of the pupils will also be included in the annual report submitted by the Commissioner of Education to the Senate and General Assembly Education Committees.
The Commissioner of Education is required to recognize school districts that initiate intervention programs designed to reduce the incidents of violence in the school district and to make information about those programs available to all school districts.
