Sponsored by:
Senator TROY SINGLETON
District 7 (Burlington)
SYNOPSIS
Directs DOE to develop guidelines consistent with federal guidance concerning school discipline in school districts.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning school discipline and supplementing chapter 37 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Department of Education shall develop and distribute to school districts guidelines on school discipline. The guidelines shall assist school districts in enhancing school climate and improving school discipline policies and practices, including ensuring that discipline practices are applied in an equitable and nondiscriminatory manner.
b. The guidelines, at a minimum, shall:
(1) be consistent with the federal school discipline guidance package issued in January 2014 by the United States Department of Education and the United States Department of Justice, including the January 8, 2014 Dear Colleague Letter on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline, as well as the January 2014 document entitled Guiding Principles: A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline;
(2) address any racial disparities or disproportionate impacts associated with current discipline practices, including the impact of race on the suspension or expulsion of students in grades kindergarten through 12; and
(3) include best practices regarding improving school climate and creating positive and nondiscriminatory school discipline practices.
2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall first apply to the first full school year following the date of enactment, except that the Commissioner of Education may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of the provisions of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the New Jersey Department of Education to develop and distribute to school districts guidelines on school discipline. The purpose of the guidelines is to assist school districts in enhancing school climate and improving school discipline policies and practices, including ensuring that discipline practices are applied in an equitable and nondiscriminatory manner. The guidelines are to be consistent with the school discipline guidance package issued in January of 2014 by the United States Department of Education, in collaboration with the United States Department of Justice.
The guidelines, at minimum, are specifically to (1) be consistent with the federal school discipline guidance package issued in January 2014 by the United States Department of Education and the United States Department of Justice, including the January 8, 2014 Dear Colleague Letter on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline, as well as the January 2014 document entitled Guiding Principles: A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline; (2) address any racial disparities or disproportionate impacts associated with current discipline practices, including the impact of race on the suspension or expulsion of students in grades kindergarten through 12; and (3) include best practices regarding improving school climate and creating positive and nondiscriminatory school discipline practices.