Bill > A5186

Introduced Session

This bill makes various changes to State school aid and budgeting laws, including special education categorical aid, establishes a State school aid reduction cap, and provides for the reimbursement of school district fuel costs. Under the bill, the Department of Education would be required to provide school districts with a preliminary notice of State school aid amounts no later than the first week of January. Under current law, the first notice of State school aid is required to be sent to school districts no later than two days following the delivery of the Governor's budget address. The bill also increases the amount of undesignated general fund balance that a school district is permitted to maintain. Under current law, a district, other than a county vocational district, is required to appropriate any funds in excess of two percent of the budgeted general fund for the prebudget year or $250,000, whichever is greater, for the subsequent year's budget. The bill would increase this limit to six percent of the first $100 million and in excess of three percent of the amount which exceeds $100 million. The bill does not modify current law governing the allowable undesignated general fund balances of county vocational school districts. The bill also changes how special education aid to school districts is calculated. Under the provisions of the "School Funding Reform Act of 2008," the State provides special education aid to school districts using the census-based funding method. Under this method, districts receive funding for special education based on the assumption that a fixed percent of the total student population requires special education services, rather than using the actual number of special education students in a school district to determine the amount of State aid the district receives. The bill eliminates the use of the census-based methodology, and calculates State aid for special education based on the actual number of special education students included in the district's resident enrollment. Additionally, the bill establishes certain municipal overburden protections to prevent a school district from receiving a reduction in State aid. Pursuant to the bill, a school district would not be subject to a reduction in State school aid if the district is located in a municipality in which the equalized total tax rate is at least 10 percent greater than the Statewide average equalized total tax rate for the most recently available calendar year and the district is spending below adequacy. Similarly, the bill provides that a regional school district would not be subject to a reduction in State school aid if the average of the equalized total tax rates for each constituent district or municipality of the regional school district is at least 10 percent greater than the Statewide average equalized total tax rate for the most recent available calendar year and the regional school district is spending below adequacy. The bill also establishes a State school aid reduction cap to ensure that the amount of State school aid provided to a school district is not to be decreased by more than two percent of the amount of State school aid received by the district in the prebudget year. Additionally, the bill provides that a school district may apply to the Commissioner of Education to receive stabilization aid, in addition to any other State school aid, if the school district experiences a reduction in State school aid compared to the prior school year or otherwise confronts a structural budgetary imbalance. To receive stabilization aid, a school district is required to submit an application to the commissioner, in a manner and form to be prescribed by the commissioner, including a written plan explaining how the district intends to fund operations in future school years in which the district does not receive stabilization aid or similar supplemental State school aid. Finally, the bill provides that the State is to reimburse school districts for actual fuel costs incurred to provide student transportation services. A district seeking reimbursement is to submit to the Department of Education a written invoice, along with any other documentation or verification of costs as the department may require, no later than the submission deadline determined by the department. The department is required to make the reimbursement available to the district within 30 days of the submission deadline. The funds to support the reimbursement program are to be appropriated by the Legislature from the Property Tax Relief Fund.

Committee Categories

Mitchelle Drulis (D)*,  Roy Freiman (D)*,  Andrea Katz (D)*,  Alex Sauickie (R)*,  Rosaura Bagolie (D), 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee (on 12/19/2024)

Official Document