SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3614

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 4, 2026

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 3614.

      As amended, this bill clarifies the provision of payments for non-resident students who enroll at a renaissance school project.

     Under current law, the school district in which a renaissance school project is located is required to pay to the nonprofit entity partnering with the renaissance school project a per pupil amount.  However, current law does not specify whether the amount is to be paid for all students enrolled in the renaissance school project or only students resident in the district.

     The bill clarifies that the school district in which a renaissance school project is located is required to pay the per pupil amount for each student who resides in the district.  For all students residing outside of the renaissance school district who are enrolled in the renaissance school project in accordance with the lottery enrollment provisions of the “Urban Hope Act,” the student’s school district of residence would be required to pay the per pupil amount to the nonprofit entity.

     The bill also provides that the Department of Education would include renaissance school projects in the Charter School Enrollment System for the purpose of calculating and reconciling payments between school districts and renaissance school projects.

     Finally, the bill directs the department to employ any existing rules and procedures for settling residency and payment disputes for charter schools in the settlement of such disputes for renaissance school projects.

      As amended and reported by the committee, Senate Bill No. 3614 is identical to Assembly Bill No. 4678 (1R), which was also reported by the committee on this date.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:  (1) clarify that payment by a non-resident student’s district of residence in accordance with the bill’s provision applies to non-resident students enrolled through the lottery provisions of the “Urban Hope Act”; and (2) make technical changes to the structure of the bill and certain internal references and citations.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) concludes that this bill will lead to a cost increase for certain non-renaissance school districts that are resident school districts for students attending a renaissance school project in the Camden City School District.  While the OLS does not have access to student-level information concerning the specific school districts in which nonresident students of each renaissance school project reside, it estimates that total costs borne by these school districts would be up to $600,000 annually.

      According to the most recent information provided in the Renaissance School Project Annual Reports, renaissance school projects currently do not currently collect tuition revenue for students not residing in Camden City.  The bill will lead to the renaissance school projects experiencing revenue gains as non-renaissance school districts make payments pursuant to the provisions of the bill.