ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE, Nos. 2498 and 2505

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  DECEMBER 18, 2025

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill Nos. 2498 and 2505 SCS.

      As amended, this bill requires the Commissioner of Education to establish and maintain, within the limit of funds appropriated, an educator employment web portal to be fully operational within 12 months of the bill’s effective date.  The web portal would aggregate job postings from public schools and approved private schools for students with disabilities across the State to allow educators to search for positions in one place and provide direct links to school-specific application systems for submission.

The web portal is required to: (1) maximize the ability of educators to connect with public schools and approved private schools for students with disabilities that have employment openings; (2) increase the degree of information sharing regarding employment opportunities for educators; and (3) maintain high standards for data privacy and security.

      The bill authorizes the commissioner to contract with a private vendor to establish and maintain the portal. The commissioner may also reconstruct an existing Internet website or web portal operated by the Department of Education.

      The bill requires the commissioner to develop, within the limit of funds appropriated, a virtual applicant profile system that allows job applicants to store and manage commonly required employment information in a secure format for use when applying to a position with a public school or an approved private school for students with disabilities using school-specific applications systems.  The bill authorizes the commissioner to contract with a private vendor or reconstruct an existing Internet website or web portal operated by the Department when developing the virtual applicant profile system. 

      The bill also provides that nothing in the bill’s provisions requiring the commissioner to develop a virtual applicant profile system is to be construed as preventing a public school, approved private school for students with disabilities, or employee thereof from using its own application process or web portal or from requiring additional materials from applicants who apply for employment using the common application and web portal.

      As amended and reported by the committee, Senate Bill No. 2498/2505 SCS is identical to Assembly Bill No. 3864 (1R), which was also amended and reported by the committee on this date.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

· include a definition of public schools;

· require the Commissioner of Education to establish and maintain an educator employment web portal rather than a common application and web portal;

· provide that the web portal is to aggregate job postings from public schools and approved private schools for students with disabilities across the State to allow educators to search for positions in one place and provide direct links to school-specific application systems for submission;

· require the commissioner to develop, within the limit of funds appropriated, a virtual applicant profile system that allows job applicants to store and manage commonly required employment information in a secure format for use when applying to a position with a public school or an approved private school for students with disabilities using school-specific application systems;

· permit the commissioner to contract with a private vendor or reconstruct an existing Internet website or web portal operated by the Department of Education when developing the applicant profile system; and

· provide that nothing in the provisions of the bill concerning the virtual applicant profile system is to be construed to prevent a public school, approved private school for students with disabilities, or an employee thereof from using its own application process or form requiring additional materials from applicants who apply for employment.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      Fiscal information for this bill is currently unavailable.