Education (School Choice)

This bill (S 854) allows parents or guardians of public school students to receive a voucher from their school district if they withdraw their child due to objections about curriculum materials or activities they consider harmful. The voucher covers 75% of the district's annual per-pupil spending (prorated for remaining school days) to help pay for nonpublic school tuition and fees. It specifically includes objections related to materials addressing sex, sexuality, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, or ethics. The bill requires school districts to provide this funding if parents withdraw their child for these reasons, and it takes effect immediately upon enactment.

The Opportunity Scholarship Act (S 1027) creates a pilot program allowing New Jersey taxpayers to receive state tax credits for donating to nonprofit scholarship organizations. These donations fund scholarships for low-income children (from households earning ≤2.5x the federal poverty level) attending "chronically failing" public schools - defined as schools where 40%+ of students scored below expectations in both math and language arts for two consecutive years. Scholarships cover tuition at eligible public or nonpublic schools (that accept scholarship students without discrimination and meet state standards), with amounts capped at the per-pupil expenditure of the failing school. The program is currently pending in the Senate Education Committee and will be assessed over a pilot period.

This bill (S 1071) amends New Jersey law to allow charter schools to limit admissions to students based on four specific categories: single gender, students at-risk of academic failure, students with disabilities, or English language learners. It directly affects charter schools in New Jersey by expanding their permitted admission criteria beyond current limits (which only allowed grade-level or academic concentration limits). The key mechanism updates Section 7 of P.L.1995, c.426 to explicitly include these categories, requiring schools to outline such criteria in their charter. The bill does not change existing prohibitions against discrimination based on other factors like disability or language proficiency.