A sending district could limit the number of students leaving the district to attend choice schools to 10 percent per grade or 15 percent of the total enrollment.
Students applying t0 the choice school must spend at least one school year in their hometown school district, unless they already have a sibling in the choice district.
Stafford Township School District, in Ocean County, has been part of the pilot program and will be allowed to continue offering the plan.
The new law expands the current choice program, opening it to any interested school district in the state. School districts interested in accepting students from other districts would have to apply to the state Department of Education for approval, outlining the programs they offer and the effect their program might have on diversity in all participating districts.
The School Choice Program supports efforts to establish or expand intradistrict, interdistrict, and open enrollment public school choice programs to provide parents, particularly parents whose children attend low-performing public schools, with expanded education options. Programs and projects assisted are required to use a portion of the grant funds to provide the students selected to participate in the program with transportation services, or the cost of transportation, to and from the public elementary schools and secondary schools, including charter schools, which the students choose to attend under the program. A grantee may not use funds for school construction. No more than 5 percent of the funds made available through the grant for any fiscal year may be used for administrative expenses.
The law expands a five-year pilot program that allowed just one choice district in every county. That program expired, but despite DOE support, had difficulty getting Legislative action to expand. But with a new pro-school choice governor in place and bipartisan support, the bill was approved unanimously in June by both the state Senate and Assembly and is also supported by NJEA and NJASA.
The students' hometown district would also be responsible for transportation to the choice school as required by state law, which could generate some additional costs for those districts. A sending district could limit the number of students leaving the district to attend choice schools to 10 percent per grade or 15 percent of the total enrollment.
Under the provisions of the law, districts would apply to the state by April 30 of the year before the school year in which they would start the program, though the education commissioner could set a different date for the first year. Districts would have to identify the programs they would offer and the number of seats available in each grade level. They would also have to show how they would maintain diversity in all participating districts, and have a plan to screen out students who may want to attend the choice school solely for athletic, extracurricular or social reasons.
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