Bill
A 4763
Requires DOE to create a water-safety fact sheet for families and maintain a county-based, public list of swim lessons and affordable courses.
Title: Requires development of educational fact sheet on water safety for public and nonpublic schools; requires DOE to maintain list of locations providing swim lessons
Status & key procedural steps
- Introduced: February 6, 2025
- Assembly actions: Reported out of Assembly Education Committee with amendments (May 8, 2025); Passed Assembly 78–0 (May 22, 2025)
- Senate: Received in the Senate and referred to the Senate Education Committee (May 29, 2025)
- Sponsors (metadata): Michael Durso (primary) with cosponsors including Joe DeStefano, David McDonough, Lester Chang, Joe Angelino. Companion bill: S3767.
Purpose
- To increase parental awareness of water-safety practices and to make it easier for families to locate swimming lessons and age-appropriate water-safety courses, with the ultimate aim of reducing child injuries and drownings around bodies of water.
Key provisions
1. Educational fact sheet
- The Commissioner of Education must develop an educational fact sheet on water safety.
- Required content includes:
- How parents/guardians can reduce a child’s risk of injury or drowning in, on, and around bodies of water.
- The role of water-safety education courses and swimming lessons in preventing injury/drowning.
- Proper use of flotation devices.
- Importance of monitoring water conditions and swimming in areas monitored by lifeguards.
- Development must be in consultation with water-safety organizations and may use resources from groups such as the American Red Cross and the New Jersey Swim Safety Alliance.
- The Commissioner must make the fact sheet available to all school districts and nonpublic schools.
- School districts are required to annually distribute the fact sheet to parents/guardians in a manner prescribed by the Commissioner. Nonpublic schools are encouraged, but not required, to distribute it.
Implementation timeline
- The bill as introduced specified an effective date of 180 days after enactment (no change noted in committee amendment text regarding effective date).
Who is affected
- Direct: New Jersey Department of Education (develops fact sheet and statewide list), local school districts (distribute fact sheet and provide access to DOE list), parents and guardians (recipients of the fact sheet), providers of swim lessons and water-safety courses (listed on DOE resource).
- Indirect: Students and families who may gain improved access to water-safety information and instruction.
Potential impacts
- Improved parental knowledge about water-safety practices and the importance of lessons and supervision.
- Centralized, publicly accessible resource for locating swim lessons — may increase participation in lessons, especially where free/reduced programs are listed.
- Administrative work for DOE to compile and update the list annually and for districts to distribute the fact sheet and link to the DOE resource.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
Sign in to ask a question.
