The following bills were approved by the General Assembly on March 23, 2017:
A-1256 This bill requires the State Board of Education regulations regarding school nurse certification to include certain minimum requirements. The bill reduces the minimum number of semester hour credits required in order to receive a school nurse endorsement to 21 semester hour credits and to receive a school nurse/non-instructional endorsement to 15 semester hour credits, which comports with current State Board of Education regulations. Additionally, the bill specifies that the fundamentals of substance abuse and dependency will be one of the subject areas required to be studied in order to receive a school nurse endorsement or a school nurse/non-instructional endorsement. The bill was approved 74-0; previously it passed the Senate 38-0. It now heads to the governor for approval.The NJSBA is currently neutral on the bill. For a more detailed analysis of the bill’s history and NJSBA’s position, click here.
A-3879/S-2398 This legislation requires school districts to adopt a policy allowing students in grades nine through 12 who participate in any school-sponsored, interscholastic extracurricular activity that includes competitions in which the student competes against students enrolled in schools outside of the district may be eligible to earn a varsity letter awarded by the district. The bill passed by a vote of 68-4-2; it was previously approved in the Senate 28-8.
A-4175 This bill requires the commissioner of education to develop guidance on identifying English language learners for gifted and talented programs. It passed 74-0 in the Assembly. A similar bill, S-2808 is pending a hearing in the Senate Education Committee. NJSBA supports this measure.
The following bills were introduced in the General Assembly:
A-4757 Requires the state to reimburse school districts for costs of transporting homeless students.
A4760 Establishes Task Force on Approved Private Schools for Students with Disabilities to study various issues including improving and streaming the tuition-setting process, funding and fiscal accountability.