SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3804  

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  NOVEMBER 27, 2023

      The Senate Education Committee favorably reports Senate Bill No. 3804 with committee amendments.

      As amended, this bill increases sending district representation on a receiving district’s board of education in certain circumstances.

     Under current law, a sending district is entitled to representation on a receiving district’s board of education when the sending district’s students comprise at least 10 percent of the total enrollment of the students in the grades of the receiving district. If two or more sending districts do not individually meet this percent threshold, but collectively comprise at least 15 percent of the total enrollment of the relevant grades of the receiving district, the sending districts are required to collectively have two representatives on the receiving district’s board of education.

     The amended bill stipulates that two or more sending districts that do not meet the requirements for representation under current law and collectively comprise at least 10 percent of the total enrollment of the relevant grades of a receiving district that is located in a county of the third class, having a population greater than 100,000 people but less than 120,000 people according to the 2020 federal decennial census, are to have one representative on the receiving district’s board of education.

     Additionally, the amended bill stipulates that two or more sending districts that do not meet the requirements for representation under current law and collectively comprise at least 10 percent of the total enrollment of the relevant grades of a receiving district may collectively have one representative on the receiving district’s board of education, subject to the approval of a majority of the board’s members.

     Finally, the amended bill stipulates that if two or more sending districts collectively comprise less than 10 percent of the total enrollment of students in the relevant grades in the receiving district, the sending districts are to collectively have one non-voting representative on the receiving district’s board of education.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

· stipulate that two or more sending districts that do not meet the requirements for representation under current law and collectively comprise at least 10 percent of the total enrollment of the relevant grades of a receiving district that is located in a county of the third class, having a population greater than 100,000 people but less than 120,000 people according to the 2020 federal decennial census, are to have one representative on the receiving district’s board of education;

· stipulate that two or more sending districts that do not meet the requirements for representation under current law and collectively comprise at least 10 percent of the total enrollment of the relevant grades of a receiving district may collectively have one representative on the receiving district’s board of education, subject to the approval of a majority of the board’s members; and

· make technical changes.