ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 447

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MAY 6, 2024

      The Assembly Education committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 447 with committee amendments.

      As amended, this bill grants school districts the authority to establish a charter school payment reserve account.  Under current law, a school district is required to make payments to charter schools for each resident student who enrolls in the charter school.  The total payment is initially determined by the Department of Education based on the projected charter school enrollment prior to the beginning of the school. The payments due to charter schools are subsequently adjusted based on charter schools’ actual enrollment as of October 15.

     When developing its budget for the upcoming school year, a school district may receive authorization from the department to budget an amount for charter school payments that is less than the projected total payment determined by the department.  Under this amended bill, a district in this circumstance would be allowed to use funds on deposit in the charter school payment reserve account to make payments to charter schools if the revised payment based on the October 15 enrollment is greater than the amount that the district budgeted.  Similar to the tuition reserve currently authorized by State Board of Education regulations, a school district board of education would be allowed to transfer interest earned on investments in the reserve account to the district’s general fund.

      This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 2024-2025 session pending technical review.  As reported, the bill includes the changes required by technical review, which has been performed.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to remove a provision requiring that funds in the charter school payment reserve account may not exceed 15 percent of the total projected payments to charter schools.