Tuition Assistance Bills Reach NJ Assembly, Ahead of 2024 Budget

By FrumNews.com

In the national fight for tuition assistance for private schools, a new bill entitled “The New Jersey Student Support Act,” introduced to the New Jersey Legislature, brings some hope.

Under the proposed bill, sponsored by Senator Vin Gopal (whose district borders Lakewood and Jackson) and Senator Joseph Lagana, Assemblywoman Lisa Swain, Assemblyman Gary Schaer, and Assemblyman Reginald Atkins, donors to a nonprofit scholarship organization chosen by the state will receive a dollar-for-dollar state tax credit. The money raised will be distributed to eligible children to attend the private school of their choice.

Agudath Israel of America has long been an advocate for similar policies on the state and federal levels and has worked with partners and legislative leaders to enact and implement such programs across the country.

“Parents in New Jersey have waited long enough,” said Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudah’s national director of government affairs. “We thank the bill sponsors and urge all legislators to support this common-sense policy.”

“Agudath Israel recognizes the tireless efforts of Frum-Assemblyman Avi Schnall, who has invested countless hours in bringing this bill to its current form,” said Rabbi Shlomo Schorr, director of legislative affairs for Agudath Israel of America’s New Jersey Office. “We look forward to working with parents, school leaders, policymakers and other education advocates, particularly TeachNJ and United Education of New Jersey (UENJ) in the coming months.”

On Monday, Rabbi Shlomo Schorr testified before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee to ask for an increase in the funds allocated for nonpublic school remedial services and busing, ahead of the state budget for $55.9 Billion budget for Fiscal Year (FY2025).

While the governor proposes the initial budget, it is ultimately the lawmakers who are responsible for drafting and approving the annual appropriations act, sending it to him for his signature or veto before the July 1st deadline.

Rabbi Schorr explained that although the Legislature increased the overall funding for the remedial services program for nonpublic school students (known as “Chapter 192”), due to various factors, students were actually receiving less remedial services this year. (Since 1998, when the Legislature set the Chapter 192 allocation at $995 per student, the total amount has only increased by less than 8% in the past 36 years)

“The children eligible for these services are the most vulnerable amongst our students,” Rabbi Schorr noted. “These children deserve, as the statute says, the ‘fullest possible opportunity to develop their intellectual capacities.’ We therefore implore the members of this committee to increase the per-pupil amount from $1,070 to $1,300.”

Rabbi Schorr also requested that the Legislature increase the transportation funds allocated for students attending nonpublic schools to match inflation. New Jersey law requires the state (via local school districts) to provide transportation for all students living more than a certain distance from their school. However, if the cost of transportation costs more than $1,165 per student, the state provides “aid-in-lieu,” which means it gives the money directly to the parents, Rabbi Schorr asked the committee to raise the annual threshold amount to $1,233 per student, up from the current $1,165, which would enable more school districts to provide transportation. For the current school year, over 50,000 children are receiving aid-in-lieu payments, compared to the approximately 39,100 children receiving busing.

“Tens of thousands of New Jersey children, entitled and mandated to receive a means of transportation to their schools, are being shortchanged,” Rabbi Schorr added.