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S 3904

Relates to enacting the environmentally conscious purchasing act

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Kevin Parker

Provides one-time aid of $250 per resident pupil to eligible NJ school districts to stabilize budgets where state aid falls below adequacy and per-pupil thresholds.

REFERRED TO FINANCE
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Bill Summary · S 3904

Summary of Bill S 3904 — Emergency Supplemental Aid to School Districts (Introduced in 2024)

Note on title: The bill’s formal title in the introductory text references the “environmentally conscious purchasing act,” but the introduced version and statement describe a program to provide Emergency Supplemental Aid to school districts. This summary focuses on the introduced content about emergency education funding.

Purpose and Intent

  • Provide a one-time appropriation to stabilize the budgets of New Jersey school districts facing insufficient state aid relative to adequacy and per-pupil thresholds.
  • The goal is to alleviate budget pressures that emerged after ongoing state funding adjustments, ensuring districts can maintain core educational services.

Key Provisions

1) Appropriation

  • From the Property Tax Relief Fund to the Department of Education (DOE): $106,500,000 for Emergency Supplemental Aid to eligible districts.

2) Eligibility Criteria (Section 1(b))

A district qualifies if all three conditions are met:
1. The district’s 2024-2025 total State school aid is less than the district’s adequacy budget (as defined by current law).
2. The district’s 2024-2025 State school aid per resident pupil is ≤ $19,000. Per pupil calculation uses total State school aid for 2024-2025 divided by resident pupil count (as of the last school day before October 16, 2023).
3. The district’s 2024-2025 State school aid is either:
- less than or equal to the district’s 2023-2024 total State school aid, or
- greater than the 2023-2024 total by up to $200,000.

3) Amount of Aid (Section 1(c))

  • For each eligible district, Emergency Supplemental Aid equals $250 multiplied by the district’s resident pupil count (as of the same October 16, 2023 date used for eligibility).

4) State School Aid Definition (Section 1(d))

  • For 2024-2025: the sum of Stabilized School Budget Aid plus specified categories allocated under P.L.2024, c.22 (equalization, special education, security, transportation, adjustment, vocational expansion stabilization, educational adequacy, school choice, and military impact aid).
  • For 2023-2024: the sum of the same listed categories allocated under P.L.2023, c.74 (equalization, special education, security, transportation, adjustment, vocational expansion stabilization, educational adequacy, school choice, and military impact aid).

5) Effectiveness

  • The act takes effect immediately upon enactment.

Who Is Affected

  • All New Jersey school districts receiving State school aid for 2024-2025 and 2023-2024, with eligibility determined by the criteria above.
  • The accompanying narrative suggests that hundreds of districts could be affected, spanning urban, suburban, and rural regions.

Procedural and Timeline Aspects

  • Introduced: December 5, 2024.
  • Status: Referred to Senate Education Committee, then referred to Finance (January 30, 2025).
  • Sponsors: Primary sponsor Kevin S. Parker.
  • Related/Companion Bills: A 5041; A 4409 (companion); and several prior-session bills listed.

Estimated Fiscal Impact and Rationale

  • Total appropriation: $106.5 million from the Property Tax Relief Fund.
  • Administration: Aid is distributed on a per-pupil basis ($250 per resident pupil) to eligible districts, providing targeted support where aid is below adequacy and per-pupil thresholds.
  • Rationale ties to addressing long-term budgetary pressures on districts post-S2 (P.L.2018, c.67) that affected staffing, programs, transportation, and other services.

Background Context

  • The bill responds to sustained budgetary challenges experienced by many districts since major state funding reforms, aiming to stabilize district budgets and protect educational offerings for students across the state.

If you want, I can add a side-by-side comparison with current state aid rules or map which districts might qualify based on hypothetical 2024-2025 aid data.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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