ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5085

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 15, 2026

      The Assembly Education Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 5085.

      This bill requires the establishment of a three-year nonpublic school nursing services pilot program in an eligible county permitting the establishment or utilization of a county consortium for the provision of nursing services to nonpublic schools that are part of the county consortium.  Under the bill, an eligible county is defined as a county of the first class with a population greater than 950,000 according to the latest federal decennial census.  The bill requires a board of education to disburse to the county consortium an amount equal to the nonpublic nursing services aid that is paid to the school district.

      The bill requires the Commissioner of Education to publish on the Department of Education’s website notification of the existence of the pilot program.  The notification would provide information to nonpublic schools related to the consortium’s responsibility under the pilot program to provide nursing services, which are otherwise required to be provided by boards of education under current law, to the pupils attending a nonpublic school that participates in the pilot program.

      The bill requires a nonpublic school to notify the commissioner, the governing body of the county consortium, and any school districts in which the nonpublic school is located, of the nonpublic school’s intention to participate in the consortium no later than June 1 of the preceding school year.

      Under the bill, in order to participate in the pilot program, the consortium is required to provide to the commissioner, at the commissioner’s request, the necessary assurances that the consortium is capable of complying with the consortium's nursing services responsibilities under the pilot program.

      The bill requires the consortium to annually enter into a contract with an independent entity to audit the implementation of the pilot program.  The audit for the prior school year would be submitted to the commissioner no later than October 1 of each year and the consortium is required to transmit a copy of the audit to the Governor and to the Legislature.
      The bill provides that two years following the establishment of the pilot program, the commissioner is required to provide the Governor and the Legislature a recommendation on the advisability of continuing the program and expanding the program Statewide.