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New Jersey State Board Meeting Wednesday — 05/20/09

Fiscal Accountability, Efficiency and Budgeting Procedures

3rd discussion

The Department is proposing to repeal the Finance and Business Services rules at N.J.A.C. 6A:23, and recodify with amendments the rules therein as additional subsections of the new Financial Accountability, Efficiency and Budgeting chapter at N.J.A.C. 6A:23A. This rulemaking, which establishes the new rules as subchapters 16 through 22 at N.J.A.C. 6A:23A, is necessary as the result of the passage of the School Funding Reform Act, P.L. 2008, c.37 and several fiscal accountability laws including P.L. 2007, c.53, which established school efficiency requirements, including travel restrictions, c.62, which established the tax levy cap law, and c. 63, which established the position and expanded responsibilities of the Executive County Superintendent positions.

The Department determined to recodify the amended finance and business services rules as subsections in the new Financial Accountability, Efficiency and Budgeting chapter at N.J.A.C. 6A:23A as subchapters 16 through 22, so all school finance regulations are in one rulemaking chapter. These rules, in conjunction with the rules promulgated by the Commissioner as a Special Adoption (as N.JA.C. 6A:23A-1 through 15), will ensure improved State monitoring, oversight and authority, and will also ensure adequate resources for district boards of education to successfully meet the State constitution’s mandate for a thorough and efficient system of free education.

The Department believes the rules proposed for recodification with amendments and adoption will impose no unnecessary burdens on, and will allow reasonable latitude for, a district board of education, private school for students with disabilities and charter school board of trustees to exercise good financial judgment.

The proposed amendments deal with tuition for public schools and the financial operations of charter schools. All other amendments are technical in nature.

Core Curriculum Content Standards

1st discussion of a resolution to adopt revised standards for preschool teaching and learning, visual and performing arts, health and physical education, science, technology and world languages.

There was discussion among Board members about text books not being aligned with NJ state standards and whether or not the State Board could or should recommend certain text books to school districts.

Controversies and Disputes

1st discussion of proposal to readopt N.J.A.C. 6A:3, Controversies and Disputes, with amendments. The existing rules are due to sunset in March of 2010, and upon readoption, the amended rules will sunset in March of 2015.

Since 1903, the Commissioner of Education has been designated by the Legislature to hear and decide controversies and disputes arising under the school laws and rules of the State Board of Education.

The Controversies and Disputes chapter establishes procedures so as to provide, and ensure public notice of, a uniform, orderly and fair process for adjudication of school law disputes.

The overall framework and basic procedural requirements of the Controversies and Disputes chapter are controlled by the Administrative Procedure Act , N.J.S.A. 52:14B, and the rules for its implementation promulgated by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL), New Jersey Uniform Administrative Procedure Rules, N.J.A.C. 1:1.

Since its March 2005 readoption with amendments, the chapter has continued to prove highly effective, and, once again, the intervening years have for the most part demonstrated a need for little more than refinement and updating.

Amendments are proposed to reflect elimination of the Division of Youth and Family Services within the Department of Human Services and creation of the Department of Children and Families, and to make changes in terminology and procedural reference.

Also reflected in the proposed amendments is the July 7, 2008 enactment of P.L. 2008, c. 36, which eliminated the role of the State Board of Education in the hearing of administrative appeals, and provided instead that:

1. determinations of the Commissioner, including decisions in contested cases, were final agency actions appealable to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court;
2. decisions of the State Board of Examiners suspending or revoking teaching certificates, decisions of the School Ethics Commission finding violation of the School Ethics Act, and interlocutory decisions of the Board of Examiners or the School Ethics Commission were appealable to the Commissioner, whose decision on appeal constituted final agency action; and
3. requests for relief arising out of previously issued State Board of Education decisions were to be made to the Commissioner

Finally, new sections of rule are proposed to set forth clear procedures for:

1. requests by prevailing parties to record monetary assessments on the judgment docket of Superior Court, a type of proceeding which has become fairly common in recent years in cases where the Commissioner has ordered payment of tuition following determination of a student’s ineligibility to attend school in a district; and
2. requests for hearing by school bus drivers seeking to contest the Department’s determination that a child has been left on the bus at the end of the driver’s assigned route.

* Ilan Plawker stated that he believed the State Board should still have the authority to hear administrative appeals.

Interdistrict Public School Choice

2nd discussion of proposal to readopt N.J.A.C. 6A:12, the rules for the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program without amendments. Upon readoption, the proposed rules will expire in October 2014.

The department expects the code to be submitted at the adoption level at the December 16th State Board meeting.

Assemblywoman Jasey and Assemblywoman Voss have introduced a bill to make the interdistrict public school choice program permanent.

The interdistrict public school choice program was established in 2000 and expired on June 30, 2005. The Jasey/Voss legislation provides for the establishment of choice districts which will be able to enroll students across district lines in designated schools of the choice district and includes no limitation on the total number of choice districts permitted in the State.

Student Residency

2nd discussion of proposal to readopt N.J.A.C. 6A:22, Student Residency, with amendments. The chapter will expire on September 10, 2009 and must be readopted pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:14B-5.1(c). Amendments are proposed for clarity and currency, and to reflect the holdings of recent relevant case law. Upon readoption, the proposed rules will expire on September 10, 2014.

The rules proposed for readoption with amendments, like their predecessors, require development of local district policies and liberal construction so as to effectuate students’ right to education, and continue to address the following areas:

• Standards for determining eligibility. These rules ensure that there will be clarity and consistency in defining domicile for all students, including those having parents or guardians domiciled in different districts. They also ensure that: inappropriate demands are not made of persons attempting to register “affidavit” students; temporary residency is clarified as a basis for attending school in a district; and considerations such as housing conditions or immigration/visa status do not enter into entitlement determinations.
• Proofs of eligibility. These rules ensure that applicants are afforded a range of possibilities from which to select forms of proof, so that districts do not request documents or information which are protected from disclosure or do not pertain to statutory eligibility requirements for the type of application submitted, and that districts do not demand any one specific form of proof, or any specific subset of proofs, as an absolute condition of admittance regardless of other proofs presented.
• Procedures for initial assessment upon presentation of application, and for prompt enrollment or notice of denial of admission. These rules ensure that students are not deprived of education while applications are being more thoroughly assessed, and that appeals can be expeditiously filed in cases of denial.
• Written notices of ineligibility. These rules ensure that applicants can understand the specific basis for any adverse decision and be apprised of their rights and responsibilities with respect to continued attendance, appeal and potential liability for tuition, as well as of parent/guardian and district board obligations under the compulsory education law.
• Procedures for removal of enrolled students. These rules ensure that districts may seek removal of students due to changed circumstances, newly discovered information, more thorough assessment of applications or re-evaluation of status, and that hearings are conducted before the district board of education prior to a final decision to remove a student if the district’s determination of ineligibility is disputed.
• Appeals and assessment/calculation of tuition. These rules ensure that students, parents and districts are aware of the processes for appealing determinations of ineligibility and enforcing tuition judgments in Superior Court; that there will be a uniform method of assessing and calculating tuition for periods of ineligible attendance; and that applicants will understand what their obligation may be if a student is enrolled in school and later found ineligible by the district board or by the Commissioner on appeal.

Professional Licensure and Standards

A proposal that N.J.A.C. 6A:9 be amended. This amendment will ease certification for experienced applicants who have already passed a content knowledge test to obtain their out-of-state certification.

11 other states already take this approach for applicants with out-of-state certification.

The proposed amendments apply to public schools, approved private schools for the disabled, and providers of publicly-funded preschool education.

Public Retreat Work Session

This was mainly just a discussion of the relevant educational issues of the day and what issues the State Board thinks it should be focusing on.

State Board Issues:

1. Standards and Assessment
2. Exemplary educational practices
3. Literacy
4. Teacher preparation and professional development (PD)
5. Early childhood
6. Staff performance matrix
7. Closing the achievement gap
8. Advocate for core science standards

National Issues

1. Stimulus funding
2. Common standards
3. Race to the Top funds
4. Federal Budget
5. ESEA Reauthorization

NJDOE Priorities

1. Secondary School Transformation
2. 21st Century Standards and Assessment
3. PD and Teacher preparation for the 21st Century
4. Common core standards
5. ARRA
6. Continued monitoring of school districts (QSAC)
7. Consolidation and shared service effort per legislation passed in 2007