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A106
ASSEMBLY, No. 106
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman AL BARLAS
District 40 (Bergen, Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
���� Establishes school district grant program in DOE to
reimburse public school teachers for classroom material expenditures.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act
establishing a teacher classroom expense grant program
and supplementing chapter 6 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.� There is established
in the Department of Education a grant program in which a public school teacher
employed on a full-time basis in a school district shall receive annual
reimbursement for expenditures incurred by the teacher for classroom supplies
purchased for use during the school year.� Except as otherwise provided
pursuant to subsection b. of this section, the amount of the annual
reimbursement for a teacher shall not exceed $250 per school year.
���� b.��� The department shall
annually provide to each school district grant funds in an amount equal to $250
multiplied by the number of full-time teachers employed in the district.� An
eligible teacher who wants to apply for reimbursement shall submit receipts for
the purchase of the classroom supplies in the manner prescribed by the
district.� In the event that all eligible teachers have received reimbursement
of their expenditures in an amount equal to $250, or the actual amount of those
expenditures if less than $250, any remaining grant funds shall be used to
reimburse teachers whose expenditures for classroom supplies purchased for use
during the school year exceeded $250.� Each teacher whose expenditures exceeded
$250 shall receive a proportionate share of the remaining school district grant
funds.� If any funds remain at the end of the school budget year following the
reimbursement of teachers pursuant to this subsection, the school district
shall hold the funds in reserve to be applied for the same purpose in the
subsequent school budget year.� The school district shall report the amount of
the reserve funds to the department.
���� c.��� To the extent permitted
by federal law, the costs borne by the State to ensure that a school district
receives grant funds pursuant to subsection b. of this section shall be paid
from federal funds allocated to the State under the federal �American Rescue
Plan (ARP) Act,� Pub.L.117-2, or any other federal funding made available to
address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
���� d.��� As used in this section,
�classroom supplies� means books, computer equipment including related software
and services, and other equipment, supplies, and supplementary materials used
by a public school teacher in the classroom.� Classroom supplies shall not
include nonathletic supplies for courses of instruction in health or physical
education.
���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately and shall first be applicable to the first full school year
following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
���� This bill establishes a grant
program in the Department of Education to provide annual reimbursement to
public school teachers employed on a full-time basis for expenditures incurred
by a teacher for classroom supplies purchased for use during the school year.�
The amount of the annual reimbursement per teacher would not exceed $250 per
school year, unless sufficient funds remain available to reimburse those
teachers who spent more than $250 for classroom supplies.
���� Under the bill, a teacher who
wants to apply for reimbursement will submit receipts for the purchase of
classroom supplies in the manner prescribed by the district.� In the event that
all eligible teachers have received reimbursement for their expenditures in an
amount equal to $250, or the actual amount of their expenditures if less than
$250, any remaining grant funds will be used to reimburse teachers whose
expenditures for classroom supplies for the school year exceeded $250.� If any
grant funds remain at the end of the school budget year, the district will hold
the funds in reserve to be applied for the same purpose in the subsequent
school budget year.� The school district is required to report the amount of
the reserve funds to the department.
���� The bill requires that the
costs borne by the State to provide the grant funds would be paid from federal
funds allocated to the State under the federal �American Rescue Plan (ARP)
Act,� or any other federal funding made available to address the impact of the
coronavirus pandemic.