Bill > A2882

Introduced Session

This bill provides additional pupil transportation aid for any school district in which:· the number of students who qualified for nonpublic school transportation or aid-in-lieu of transportation payments in the school district increased by over 100 percent in the five-year period prior to the 2023-2024 school year;· in a single school year the costs for nonpublic school transportation or aid-in-lieu of transportation increased by over 20 percent; and· at least 20 percent of the school district's transportation budget was allocated for nonpublic school transportation costs in the 2023-2024 school year. A district that meets these criteria is to receive 100 percent of pupil transportation costs for regular education nonpublic school pupils. The sponsor believes that the State school funding law as revised under P.L.2018, c.67 (commonly referred to as "S2") is faulty and, if its implementation continues, will reduce the educational and extracurricular opportunities available to students and cause potentially irreversible damage to many school districts across the State. The formula for providing transportation aid fails to take into account unforeseen developments and therefore unreasonably creates additional stress on certain school district budgets that may be inconsistent with the State's constitutional responsibility to provide for a thorough and efficient education for all students. It is the sponsor's intent through the provisions of this bill to provide additional State aid to certain school districts that are experiencing exceptional demographic changes. In the recent New Jersey Appellate Division case of Alcantara v. Allen-McMillan, Docket No. A-3693-20, the court reviewed a decision by the Commissioner of Education in regard to the contention of parents of Lakewood School District students that the district was not providing a thorough and efficient education and this was due to a failure to adequately fund the district. The court reversed the commissioner's decision that the district was in fact providing a thorough and efficient education and remanded the case for consideration of the State school funding law and its constitutionality as applied to Lakewood. The court's decision was based in large part on the demographic trends in the district. The provisions of this bill recognize the fact that other districts, in addition to Lakewood, are experiencing unique demographic shifts that make the provision of a constitutionally adequate thorough and efficient education impossible without additional State aid.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Alex Sauickie (R)*,  Aura Dunn (R), 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document