Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEXANDER "AVI" SCHNALL
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Excludes nonpublic school transportation costs from calculation of school district local share.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning State school aid amending P.L.2007, c.260.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 10 of P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-52) is amended to read as follows:
10. Each school district and county vocational school district shall receive equalization aid predicated on a local share determined by district property wealth and district income.
a. Each district's local share shall be calculated as follows:
LSHARE = (EQVAL x PVR x 50%) + (INC x INR x 50%) – NPT
where
EQVAL is the district's prebudget year equalized valuation;
PVR is the Statewide property value rate determined pursuant to subsection c. of this section;
INC is the district's income; [and]
INR is the Statewide income rate determined pursuant to subsection c. of this section; and
NPT is the amount spent by the district in the prebudget year for the transportation of nonpublic school pupils eligible for transportation pursuant to N.J.S.18A:39-1.
b. The local share for each county vocational school district shall be calculated as follows:
LSHARE = (COLSHARE/COAB) x AB
where
COLSHARE is the sum of the local shares for all school districts in the county calculated pursuant to subsection a. of this section;
COAB is the sum of the adequacy budgets for all school districts in the county calculated pursuant to section 9 of this act; and
AB is the county vocational school district's adequacy budget calculated pursuant to section 9 of this act.
c. For the 2008-2009 school year, the property value rate shall be set at 0.0092690802 and the income value rate shall be set at 0.04546684. For subsequent school years the values for the property value rate and the income value rate shall be annually determined by the commissioner as follows:
the property value rate shall be determined such that equalization aid equals the Statewide available equalization aid for all districts determined according to this act had each school district's local share equaled the product of the property value rate and the district's equalized valuation and each county vocational school district's local share equaled the product of the county vocational school district's adequacy budget and the average local share, expressed as a percent, of the school districts located in the county; and
the income rate shall be determined such that equalization aid equals the Statewide available equalization aid for all districts determined according to this act had each school district's local share equaled the product of the income rate and the district's income and each county vocational school district's local share equaled the product of the county vocational school district's adequacy budget and the average local share, expressed as a percent, of the school districts located in the county.
In the event that these rates, when used in accordance with the provisions of this section and assuming that each district's general fund levy is equal to its local share, do not result in equalization aid for all districts equal to the Statewide available equalization aid, the commissioner shall adjust these rates appropriately, giving equal weight to each.
(cf: P.L.2007, c.260, s.10)
2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall first apply to the first full school year following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that a school district’s nonpublic transportation costs are not to be included in the determination of the school district’s local share for the purposes of calculating State school aid.
Under the bill, a school district’s prebudget year expenses for the transportation of nonpublic school students would be subtracted from the sum of the district’s equalized property values and aggregate income to determine the district’s local share.