Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes Education Endowment Fund.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act establishing the Education Endowment Fund and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is established within the Department of the Treasury a nonlapsing, revolving fund to be known as the “Education Endowment Fund.”
b. The fund shall annually be credited with no less than 10 percent of the undesignated fund balance for the State fiscal year. The department shall be authorized to seek and accept gifts, grants, or donations from private or public sources for deposit in the Education Endowment Fund, except that the department may not accept a gift, grant, or donation that is subject to conditions that are inconsistent with any other law.
The Director of the Division of Investment may invest the public moneys constituting the Education Endowment Fund in the same types of investments and subject to the same limitations provided for the investment of funds in the State Treasury. The director shall be responsible for the adequacy of the accounting services provided by the custodian bank and shall maintain such accounting records as may be required for that purpose. All interest and investment earnings received on monies in the fund shall be credited to the fund.
c. Amounts shall be annually appropriated from the fund to the Department of Education for distribution to school districts to supplement State school aid and support educational and extracurricular programs, including summer school, remedial mathematics and world languages courses, art and music courses, sports teams, and extracurricular clubs. The Department of Education shall distribute the funds to school districts in proportion to the number of students enrolled in each school district, with the amounts divided to the nearest five cent increment. The amounts appropriated from the fund shall be determined as follows:
(1) in the first year through the fifth year following establishment of the fund, 25 percent of the interest earned on the investment of monies in the fund;
(2) in the sixth year through the tenth year following the establishment of the fund, 50 percent of the interest earned on the investment of monies in the fund; and
(3) in the eleventh year following the establishment of the fund and in each year thereafter, 75 percent of the interest earned on the investment of monies in the fund.
2. This act shall take effect
immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes the Education Endowment Fund for the purpose of supporting the costs of certain educational and extracurricular activities.
The fund would be credited with at least 10 percent of annual State surplus funds, as well as any donations received and investment earnings on monies in the fund. The amount appropriated in any particular year would be: 25 percent of the interest earned in the first through fifth years following establishment of the fund; 50 percent of the interest earned in the sixth through tenth years following establishment of the fund; and 75 percent of the interest earned in the eleventh year following establishment of the fund and in each year thereafter.
The fund would be used to supplement State school aid and to support educational and extracurricular programs, including summer school, remedial mathematics and world languages courses, art and music courses, sports teams, and extracurricular clubs.