Bill
S 4885
Amends NJ school aid rules to require regular, detailed state aid notices (based on projected pupil counts) and define local share rules, affecting district budgets.
Status: REFERRED TO CODES
Introduced: July 31, 2024
Sponsors (as provided): Catherine Cortez Masto (primary); Leroy Comrie (primary)
Related/companion: HR 6725; A 5966
Important note about source text
- The bill title provided—“Establishes a bill of rights for the unhoused”—does not match the text of the introduced version that was supplied.
- The supplied introduced-version text is an amendment to State school aid statutes (P.L.1996, c.138 and P.L.2007, c.260; citations C.18A:7F-5 and related) concerning State aid calculations, notices, deadlines, and local share rules. This summary describes the actual text you supplied and flags the discrepancy. Verify the official legislative source (state legislature website or bill text repository) to confirm which version is correct.
Overview / Purpose (based on supplied text)
- The supplied introduced-version amends the State school aid statute (C.18A:7F-5) to clarify definitions and establish timing and content requirements for State aid notices from the Commissioner of Education to local school districts. It also restates and clarifies provisions about required local share, budget submission deadlines, and the use of projected pupil counts and valuations in aid calculations.
Key provisions and changes (from supplied text)
- Defines “cost of living” to mean the CPI as defined in P.L.2007, c.260.
- Requires the Commissioner, within 30 days after approval of the Educational Adequacy Report, to notify each district of: base per-pupil amount; per-pupil amounts for full‑day preschool; grade-level and other weights (e.g., at‑risk, bilingual); cost coefficients for security and transportation aid; state average classification rates and excess costs for special education categories; and geographic cost adjustments for applicable school years.
- Beginning with aid calculated for 2026–2027, requires the Commissioner to provide each district, annually and no later than the first week in December, a preliminary State aid notice detailing the minimum amount of State aid payable in the succeeding school year under P.L.2007, c.260.
- Requires annual notification (within two days of the Governor’s transmittal of the State budget message) of the maximum amount of aid payable or the amount that is included in the budget message, and notification of each district’s adequacy budget for the succeeding school year. On that date the Commissioner must also provide the projected statewide property value rate and statewide income rate to be used in local-share calculations for the year following the succeeding year.
- Confirms that, except where otherwise specified, aid amounts for budget years (since 2008–2009) are based on commissioner-projected pupil counts with adjustments made to aid in the succeeding school year to reflect actual counts.
- Reiterates required local share rules: districts receiving educational adequacy aid follow that formula; other districts’ required local share equals the lesser of (a) the local share calculated at the district’s adequacy budget or (b) the district’s prebudget-year budgeted local share. Municipalities/boards of school estimate must certify a general fund tax levy that meets the required local share.
- Maintains existing budget submission deadlines (on or before March 4, or March 20 for districts with November elections) and allows the Commissioner to adjust submission dates if warranted by availability of preliminary aid numbers. (Legacy provisions relating to earlier transitional years and administrative cost caps remain in the text.)
Who would be affected
- Primary: New Jersey public school districts, their boards of education, and county executive superintendents.
- Secondary: State Department of Education / Commissioner (additional notice/administrative obligations), municipal governing bodies and boards of school estimate (levy certification), and indirectly students, taxpayers, and local budgets due to timing and precision of aid estimates.
Procedural / timeline notes
- Introduced July 31, 2024. Referred to committees (records show referrals to Veterans’ Affairs, Senate Education Committee, and later to Codes). Most recent status (as provided): REFERRED TO CODES (February 13, 2025).
- A material deadline in the bill: the requirement for preliminary State aid notices to begin for the 2026–2027 aid calculation (i.e., December notices starting in calendar year 2025 for the 2026–27 school year).
Action items / recommendation
- Confirm which text is the official bill text for S 4885 (the title “bill of rights for the unhoused” vs. the supplied school-aid amendment). If you want a summary of the “bill of rights for the unhoused” version, please provide the correct bill text or point to the official source and I will prepare a focused summary.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
Sign in to ask a question.
