SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 3349

 

with committee amendments

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED:  FEBRUARY 13, 2023

 

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 3349 (1R), with committee amendments.

      As amended by the committee, this bill requires payment of tuition for certain nonresident public school students.

      The bill, as amended, clarifies that any nonresident student in a school district is required to pay tuition as prescribed by the board of education.

      The amended bill requires each board of education, with the approval of the executive county superintendent, to establish a uniform tuition amount for any nonresident student admitted to the schools of a district.

      Additionally, the amended bill clarifies that the bill’s provisions do not apply to the enrolled children of teaching staff members of a school district or county vocational school district who are permitted, by contract or local district policy, to enroll their children in the educational program of the school district or county vocational school district without payment of tuition.

 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

·         require a board of education, with the approval of the executive county superintendent, to establish a uniform tuition amount for any nonresident student admitted to the schools of a district;

·         clarify that any nonresident admitted to the schools of a district is required to pay tuition;

·         remove a provision that allowed a board of education to admit a nonresident student in a school district for the purposes of participation in a school sport or other extracurricular activity with the consent of the board of education and payment of tuition equal to the actual cost per pupil; and

·         specify that the bill’s provisions do not limit a district’s ability to charge tuition in accordance with any other federal or State law, regulation, or court order.

 

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) determines that this bill will lead to an indeterminate annual revenue increase for local school districts to the extent that tuition would be paid by the parents or guardians of nonresident students admitted to the school district and to the extent that school districts do not already require the payment of tuition for nonresident students. The bill directs the board of education of a school district to set a uniform tuition rate for all nonresident students admitted to the district, which is to be approved by the executive county superintendent. The bill does not provide any guidelines or restrictions for establishing the uniform tuition rate, and as a result, the OLS is not able to estimate or provide a likely range for the uniform tuition rates.