Bill > S3645

Introduced Session

This bill requires the Commissioner of Education to submit a report on the current status of SDA district designation. Within 90 days of the effective date of this bill, the commissioner is required to submit a report to the Legislature that includes: (1) criteria utilized by the Department of Education to determine the socioeconomic status of each school district; (2) the socioeconomic status of each school district; (3) information on the current social, economic, physical, and fiscal conditions of each SDA district; (4) a comparison of these factors when each SDA district was designated as an SDA district and the district's current status; (5) a determination of whether each SDA district should maintain designation as an SDA district; (6) a discussion on whether additional school districts should receive SDA district designation; and (7) certain legislative recommendations. The legislative recommendations are to: address whether the districts currently classified as SDA districts should be revised; and to require the commissioner to recommend to the Legislature the economic and school facilities adequacy criteria to be used in the designation of districts as SDA districts and a list of the school districts which meet the criteria for SDA district designation. There are currently 31 SDA districts. These school districts generally received this designation from either: (1) the Abbott v. Burke court decisions; or (2) the State Legislature through the enactment of various school funding laws. A majority of SDA districts received classification in 1990. The New Jersey Supreme Court used the department's District Factor Groups (DFGs) and list of urban districts based on data from the 1980 Census when suggesting which districts should be classified as poorer urban districts. DFGs were created based on the department's statistical analysis of seven factors: 1) per capita income level; 2) occupation level; 3) education level; 4) percent of residents below the poverty level; 5) the average number of persons per household; 6) percent of district considered urban; and 7) percent of those in the work force who received some unemployment compensation. As originally enacted, the "Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act," P.L.2000, c.72 (C.18A:7G-1 et al.), included a provision requiring the commissioner, every five years, to recommend to the Legislature criteria to be used in the designation of SDA districts and a list of the school districts that meet the criteria for SDA district designation. This provision was removed with the enactment of the "School Funding Reform Act of 2008," P.L.2007, c.260 (C.18A:7F-43 et al.). Since 2004, however, the department has not made updates to the DFGs, provided the Legislature with criteria for SDA designation, or analyzed whether it may be beneficial to remove wealthier districts from SDA classification in favor of needier districts. Over the last 40 years, the status of certain SDA districts have drastically changed. Hoboken City is just one example of a municipality's revitalization and increased socioeconomic status since its initial classification in 1990. It is the sponsor's intent to ensure the neediest districts are receiving the benefits of SDA classification and protect the taxpayers who bear the burden of the State's cost of maintaining the school facilities of SDA districts.

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Mike Testa (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee (on 09/19/2024)

Official Document