Read the full stored bill text
S3715 SED Statement 6/1/26
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No.
3715
with
committee amendments
STATE
OF NEW JERSEY
DATED:
�JUNE 1,
2026
����� The Senate Education Committee reports favorably and
with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 3715.
����� As amended, this bill requires a student determined by
a school district to have committed any bias incident on school property, at
any school-sponsored function, or on a school bus to meet with a mental health
care professional employed by the district once a week for a minimum of nine
months.� The bill requires each school district to employ at least one mental
health care professional with expertise in student counseling and training in
implicit bias, racial equity, or cultural competence or humility to provide
these services to the schools of the district.
����� The bill requires a school district to place a student
in an alternative education program if: (1) a student�s parent or guardian
refuses to consent to student participation in the meetings with the mental
health care professional; or (2) a student is reported for engaging in a
subsequent bias incident following completion of the meetings with the mental
health care professional.
����� The bill requires a mental health care professional
meeting with a student pursuant to the provisions of the bill to: (1) provide
educational resources to assist the student in understanding the impact of the
student�s conduct; (2) offer a supportive environment for the student to
discuss and explore the potential motivation behind the student�s conduct; and
(3) seek to determine whether a mental health condition may have contributed to
the student�s actions.
����� Under the bill, a school district is required to
develop and implement a Racial and Bias Intervention Plan that includes
numerous components for each student determined to have engaged in a bias
incident.
����� The bill also requires school districts to report all
reported bias incidents to the Department of Education within 72 hours of the
report of the incident using a standardized reporting system to be established
by the Commissioner of Education.� Under the bill, the department is required
to compile and publish quarterly dashboards and an Annual Statewide Bias in
Schools Report on the department�s Internet website that is to include certain
listed information.�
����� Finally, the provisions of the bill are to be
construed as supplemental to, and not in conflict with, the �Anti-Bullying Bill
of Rights Act.�
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS
:
����� The committee amended the bill to:
�
replace reference to a State-certified school psychologist with a
mental health care professional; and
�
define mental health care professional to mean a person who
provides mental health services and is licensed or otherwise authorized,
pursuant to Title 45 of the Revised Statutes, to practice a health care
profession that is regulated by one of the following: the State Board of
Medical Examiners; the State Board of Psychological Examiners; the State Board
of Social Work Examiners; the State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy
Examiners; the Alcohol and Drug Counselor Committee, the Professional Counselor
Examiners Committee, and the Certified Psychoanalysts Advisory Committee.