As school gets back into session, so do the Governor and Legislature. The Senate and Assembly have scheduled several meetings of their respective Education, Higher Education and Labor Committees over the fall and winter months.
Governor Christie also started off the school year by signing several education and workforce development bills that NJBIA supported.
The bills the Governor acted on included:
- A-2292/S-372 (Vainieri Huttle, Codey) – Requires review of Core Curriculum Content Standards to ensure guidance for substance abuse instruction provided to public school students incorporates most recent evidence-based standards and practices. NJBIA supported the legislation because aligning education standards in the classroom is important in every class, not just in English and Math.
- A-2563/S-1753 (Jasey, Turner) – Directs institutions of higher education and proprietary degree-granting institutions to provide Higher Education Student Assistance Authority with graduation and transfer rates of State tuition aid grant recipients. NJBIA supported the legislation because it helped clarify that all institutions of higher education in New Jersey report information to help students, parents and employers make informed decisions about higher education.
- A-3405/S-1822 (Coughlin, Sarlo) – Permits certain public institutions of higher education to make purchases and contract for services as participating contracting units in cooperative pricing systems and through use of nationally-recognized and accepted cooperative purchasing agreements. NJBIA supported the legislation because it would allow our institutions of higher education to save money by engaging in cooperative purchasing agreements.
The governor also conditionally vetoed:
- A-3629/S-86 (Bucco, Bucco) – Establishes Class Three special law enforcement officers to provide security in public and nonpublic schools and county colleges. NJBIA supported the legislation because it provided an innovative way to increase security in New Jersey’s schools at a low cost to districts.
And in case you missed it, the Governor also signed several other education/workforce bills into law earlier this summer. They included:
- A-2515/S-2003 (DeAngelo, Beach) – Establishes New Jersey Military Skills Council
- A-3841/S-2296 (Lampitt, Cunningham) – Allows School of Osteopathic Medicine at Rowan University to maintain principal clinical affiliation with either osteopathic or allopathic hospital.
- SJR-68/AJR-110 (Sweeney, Quijano) – Urges Congress to ask US DOE and US DOL to modify regulations regarding Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to protect individuals with disabilities.
