Requires school districts to include environmental sustainability plan in long-range facilities plan.

A1871

ASSEMBLY, No. 1871

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman JAMES J. KENNEDY

District 22 (Somerset and Union)

Assemblywoman SHAMA A. HAIDER

District 37 (Bergen)

Assemblyman STERLEY S. STANLEY

District 18 (Middlesex)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman Danielsen and Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires school districts to include environmental
sustainability plan in long-range facilities plan.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning environmental sustainability plans for
school districts and amending P.L.2000, c.72.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� Section 4 of P.L.2000,
c.72 (C.18A:7G-4) is amended to read as follows:

���� 4.��� a.� By December 15, 2000
and by October 1, 2005, each district shall prepare and submit to the
commissioner a long-range facilities plan that details the district's school
facilities needs and the district's plan to address those needs for the ensuing
five years.� Following the approval of the 2005 long-range facilities plan,
each district shall amend its long-range facilities plan at least once every
five years to update enrollment projections, building capacities,
[
and
]
health and
safety conditions
, and environmental sustainability goals
.� The
long-range facilities plan shall incorporate the facilities efficiency
standards and shall be filed with the commissioner for approval in accordance
with those standards.� For those Abbott districts that have submitted
long-range facilities plans to the commissioner prior to the effective date of
P.L.2000, c.72 (C.18A:7G-1 et al.), this subsection shall not be read to
require an additional filing by October 1, 2000.

���� b.��� Notwithstanding any
other law or regulation to the contrary, an application for a school facilities
project pursuant to section 5 of P.L.2000, c.72 (C.18A:7G-5) shall not be
approved unless the district has filed a long-range facilities plan that is
consistent with the application and the plan has been approved by the
commissioner; except that prior to October 1, 2000, the commissioner may
approve an application if the project is necessary to protect the health or
safety of occupants of the school facility, or is related to required early
childhood education programs, or is related to a school facility in which the
functional capacity is less than 90% of the facilities efficiency standards
based on current school enrollment, or the district received bids on the school
facilities project prior to the effective date of P.L.2000, c.72 (C.18A:7G-1 et
al.) and the district demonstrates that further delay will negatively affect
the cost of the project.

���� c.���� An amendment to a
long-range facilities plan may be submitted at any time to the commissioner for
review and determination on the approval or disapproval of the amendment.

���� d.��� Each long-range
facilities plan shall include a cohort survival methodology or other
methodology approved by the commissioner, accompanied by a certification by a
qualified demographer retained by the district that serves as the basis for
identifying the capacity and program needs detailed in the long-range
facilities plan.

���� e.���� The long-range
facilities plan shall include an educational adequacy inventory of all existing
school facilities in the district including the adequacy of school facilities
to educate within the district the existing and projected number of pupils with
disabilities, the identification of all deficiencies in the district's current
inventory of school facilities, which includes the identification of those
deficiencies that involve emergent health and safety concerns, and the
district's proposed plan for future construction and renovation. The long-range
facilities plan submissions shall conform to the guidelines, criteria and
format prescribed by the commissioner.

���� f.���� Each district shall
determine the number of "unhoused students" for the ensuing five-year
period calculated pursuant to the provisions of section 8 of P.L.2000, c.72
(C.18A:7G-8).

���� g.��� Each district shall
submit the long-range facilities plan to the planning board of the municipality
or municipalities in which the district is situate for the planning board's
review and findings and the incorporation of the plan's goals and objectives into
the municipal master plan adopted by the municipality pursuant to section 19 of
P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-28).

���� h.��� The commissioner shall
develop, for the March 2002 Report on the Cost of Providing a Thorough and
Efficient Education issued by the commissioner pursuant to section 4 of
P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-4), facilities efficiency standards for elementary,
middle, and high schools consistent with the core curriculum school delivery
assumptions in the report and sufficient for the achievement of the core
curriculum content standards, including the provision of required programs in
Abbott districts and early childhood education programs in the districts in
which these programs are required by the State.� The area allowances per FTE
student in each class of the district shall be derived from these facilities
efficiency standards.� The commissioner shall revise the facilities efficiency
standards and the area cost allowance in accordance with such schedule as the
commissioner deems necessary.� The commissioner shall publish the revised
facilities efficiency standards and the area cost allowance in the New Jersey
Register and, within a reasonable period of time after 30 days following
publication, shall file the revised facilities efficiency standards and the
area cost allowance with the Office of Administrative Law for publication in
the New Jersey Register and those standards shall become effective immediately
upon filing. During the 30-day period the commissioner shall provide an
opportunity for public comment on the proposed facilities efficiency standards
and the area cost allowance.

���� The facilities efficiency
standards developed by the commissioner shall not be construction design
standards but rather shall represent the instructional spaces, specialized
instructional areas, and administrative spaces that are determined by the
commissioner to be educationally adequate to support the achievement of the
core curriculum content standards including the provision of required programs
in Abbott districts and early childhood education programs in the districts in
which these programs are required by the State.� A district may design, at its
discretion, the educational and other spaces to be included within the school
facilities project.� The design of the project may eliminate spaces in the
facilities efficiency standards, include spaces not in the facilities
efficiency standards, or size spaces differently than in the facilities
efficiency standards upon a demonstration of the adequacy of the school
facilities project to deliver the core curriculum content standards pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subsection g. of section 5 of P.L.2000, c.72 (C.18A:7G-5).

���� Within a reasonable period of
time after the effective date of P.L.2000, c.72 (C.18A:7G-1 et al.), the
commissioner shall publish the facilities efficiency standards developed for
the 2000-2001, 2001-2002, and 2002-2003 school years in the New Jersey Register.�
Within a reasonable period of time after 30 days after publication in the New
Jersey Register, the commissioner shall file the facilities efficiency
standards with the Office of Administrative Law and those standards shall
become effective immediately upon filing with the Office of Administrative
Law.� During the 30-day period the commissioner shall provide an opportunity
for public comment on the proposed facilities efficiency standards.

���� i.���� Within 90 days of the
commissioner's receipt of a long-range facilities plan for review, the
commissioner shall determine whether the plan is fully and accurately completed
and whether all information necessary for a decision on the plan has been filed
by the district.� If the commissioner determines that the plan is complete, the
commissioner shall promptly notify the district in writing and shall have 60
days from the date of that notification to determine whether to approve the
plan or not.� If the commissioner determines that the plan is not complete, the
commissioner shall notify the district in writing.� The district shall provide
to the commissioner whatever information the commissioner determines is
necessary to make the plan accurate and complete.� The district shall submit
that information to the commissioner, and the commissioner shall have 60 days
from the date of receipt of accurate and complete information to determine
whether to approve the plan or not.

���� j.���� Notwithstanding any
provision in subsection i. of this section, if at any time the number of
long-range facilities plans filed by school districts with the commissioner and
pending review exceeds 20% of the number of school districts in New Jersey, the
commissioner may extend by 60 days the deadline for reviewing each plan pending
at that time.

���� k.��� (Deleted by amendment,
P.L.2007, c.260).

���� l.���� By July 1, 2001, the
commissioner shall provide the Legislature with recommendations to address the
circumstances of districts which are contiguous with two or more Abbott
districts.� The recommendations shall address the issues of the financing of
school facilities projects and the funding of the educational and other
programs required within these districts as a result of their unique
demographic situation.

���� m.�� By July 1, 2001, the
commissioner shall study the Safe Schools Design Guidelines, prepared by the
Florida Center for Community Design and Research, which address the issues of
school safety and security through the design of school facilities.� Based upon
the commissioner's study, the commissioner shall issue recommendations to
districts on the appropriateness of including the Safe Schools Design
Guidelines in the design and construction of school facilities projects.

����
n.��� The long-range
facilities plan shall include an environmental sustainability plan for the
district which shall provide for the efficient use of resources, consider the
impact of district facilities on the local and regional environment, and
include details on how the district will allow ecosystems to function naturally
to the greatest extent possible.� Each district shall amend its long-range
facilities plan to include the environmental sustainability plan for the
district as soon as practicable, but not later than the last day of the first
full school year next following the effective date of
P.L. , c. (pending before the
Legislature as this bill).� Each district shall make the environmental
sustainability plan or a comprehensive summary of the goals and initiatives
included in the plan, available to the public.� The district shall prominently
display a link to the plan or summary on the district�s Internet website.

����
(1)�� The environmental
sustainability plan shall include:

����
(a)�� initiatives to
improve facility energy efficiency throughout the district, which may include
efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase use of renewable energy,
and transition to high-performance sustainable buildings;

����
(b)�� a commitment to the
acquisition of sustainable school supplies, electronics and other materials,
and the prioritization of contracts with vendors focused on environmental
sustainability; and

����
(c)�� optimization of
district transportation to reduce carbon emissions, including a plan to
transition to electric vehicles for district busing services.

����
(2)�� The district shall
establish performance measures to monitor the progress of each element of the
environmental sustainability plan.� The district shall annually publish a
summary of the progress toward the district�s sustainability goals.

(cf: P.L.2007, c.260, s.40)

���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill requires school
districts to include environmental sustainability plans in the long-range
facilities plans submitted to the Commissioner of Education.

���� Every five years, each school
district submits a long-range facilities plan to the Commissioner which
discusses projected enrollment, building capacities, health and safety
conditions, and any anticipated facilities projects in the district.� Under
this bill, the district would also be required to submit an environmental
sustainability plan which would consider the environmental impact of district
facilities and operations, and set goals for improving sustainability.

���� The environmental
sustainability plan would be required to contain information about improvements
to facility energy efficiency, including efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, increase use of renewable energy, and transition to high-performance
sustainable buildings.� The sustainability plan would also include a commitment
to the acquisition of more sustainable school supplies, electronics, and other
materials, and to prioritize contracts with vendors focused on sustainability.
The district would also be required to include a plan to optimize
transportation to reduce carbon emissions and transition the district�s school
bus fleet to electric vehicles.

���� This bill would require school
districts to publish the environmental sustainability plan or a summary of the
goals and initiatives in the plan.� The district would be required to establish
performance measures to monitor progress toward each goal, and each year the
district would be required to publish a summary of the progress toward the
district�s sustainability goals.� School districts would be required to amend
existing long-range facilities plans to include the environmental
sustainability plan no later than the end of the first full year after this
bill is enacted.