Requires Commissioner of Education to establish criteria to be used by school districts in designating hazardous routes and provides State aid for each student transported along designated hazardous routes.

S4327

SENATE, No.
4327

STATE OF
NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MAY 21, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� LINDA R. GREENSTEIN

District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires Commissioner of
Education to establish criteria to be used by school districts in designating
hazardous routes and provides State aid for each student transported along
designated hazardous routes.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act
concerning school district hazardous routes,
supplementing chapter 39 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes and P.L.2007,
c.260 (C.18A:7F-43 et al.), and repealing section 2 of P.L.1999, c.310.

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

���� 1.� a.� The Commissioner of
Education, in consultation with the Commissioner of Transportation, shall
establish criteria for designating school district hazardous routes for the
purpose of providing courtesy busing along those routes to students who are not
remote.�

���� b.� The criteria shall include:

���� (1)� in the case of walkways
parallel to the road, the route shall be considered a hazardous route, if the traffic
volume on the road exceeds a rate of 180 vehicles per hour, per direction,
during school arrival or dismissal periods, and there is not an area at least
four feet wide adjacent to the road, not including drainage ditches,
sluiceways, swales, or channels, having a surface upon which students may walk
without being required to walk on the road surface.� In addition, if the road
along which the student is required to walk is uncurbed and has a posted speed
limit of 50 miles per hour or greater, the area described in this paragraph
which the student is required to walk shall be set off the road by no less than
three feet from the edge of the road.

���� Traffic volume shall be
determined by the most current traffic engineering study conducted by the State
or a local government entity;

���� (2)� in the case of walkways
perpendicular to the road, the route shall be considered a hazardous route, if
the traffic volume on the road exceeds the rate of 360 vehicles per hour, per
direction, including all lanes, during school arrival or dismissal periods at
an uncontrolled site, which uncontrolled site means a site where no crossing
guard, traffic enforcement officer, or stop sign or other traffic control
signal is present during the times students walk to and from school.

���� Traffic volume shall be
determined in the same manner that traffic volume is determined under paragraph
(1) of this subsection; and

���� (3)� The route shall be
considered a hazardous route if a student is required to:

���� �(a) traverse an at-grade
main-line railroad crossing;

���� (b) cross a limited-access
highway or interstate that is without a dedicated pedestrian grade separation;

���� (c) cross a bridge or overpass
without a separated pedestrian accommodation; or

���� (d) cross an arterial roadway
of five or more through lanes with posted speed of 40 miles per hour or greater.

���� c.� The criteria may include:

���� (1) sidewalk conditions, blind
curves, or steep grades that present demonstrable safety risks;

���� (2) environmental conditions,
such as flooding, icing, or lighting;

���� (3) social conditions, such as
crime density or vacant building concentration;

���� (4) weather-related seasonal
designations;

���� (5) stricter thresholds for
criteria included in this subsection in the case of students in preschool and
elementary school; and

���� (6)� stricter thresholds for
criteria included in this subsection in the case of �students attending school
in an urban setting.

���� 2.� a.� A school district
shall submit to the Commissioner of Education a joint certification by the
school district and the State or local entity responsible for the road, that a
route is designated as a hazardous route in accordance with criteria established
pursuant to section 1 of P.L.��� , c.��� (C.������� ) (pending before the
Legislature as this bill).

���� b.� The State Board of
Education shall promulgate rules and regulations in accordance with the
�Administrative Procedure Act,� P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to
establish:

���� (1) inspection and
documentation protocols for a joint certification by a school district and the State
or a local entity regarding the designation of a route as hazardous;

���� (2)� standard forms for the
certification, decertification, and recertification of a hazardous route;

���� (3) procedural rules for
resolving disagreements between a school district and the State or a local
entity regarding the designation of a hazardous route;

���� (4) annual recertification and
decertification requirements for designated hazardous routes; and

���� (5) data reporting
requirements for school districts and the State and local entities regarding
the designation of hazardous routes.

���� 3.��� a.� Each school district
and county vocational school district shall receive categorical State aid for
students who receive courtesy busing services along a hazardous route
designated pursuant to section 2 of P.L.��� , c.��� (C.������� ) (pending
before the Legislature as this bill).� The Commissioner of Education shall
determine the per pupil amount of hazardous route State aid.� For subsequent
school years, the per pupil amount shall be established in the Educational
Adequacy Report with the per pupil amount adjusted by the CPI for each of the
two school years following the first school year to which the report is
applicable.

���� b.��� As a condition of
receiving hazardous route State aid, the commissioner may require a school
district to demonstrate:

���� (1) that there are no
reasonable alternative transportation options available other than the
hazardous route; and

���� (2) steps taken toward
long-term plans to correct the hazardous conditions on the route.

���� 4.� Section 2 of P.L.1999,
c.310 (C.18A:39-1.5) is repealed.

���� 5. �This act shall take effect
immediately shall first apply in the second full school year following the date
of enactment.

STATEMENT

���� This bill requires the
Commissioner of Education, in consultation with the Commissioner of
Transportation, to establish criteria for designating hazardous routes for the
purpose of providing courtesy busing along those routes to students who are not
remote.

���� The bill specifies certain
criteria that will be considered a hazardous route.� These criteria include:

���� (1)� in the case of walkways
parallel to the road, if the traffic volume on the road exceeds a rate of 180
vehicles per hour, per direction, during school arrival or dismissal periods,
and there is not an area at least four feet wide adjacent to the road having a
surface upon which students may walk without being required to walk on the road
surface.� In addition, if the road along which the student is required to walk
is uncurbed and has a posted speed limit of 50 miles per hour or greater, the
area described above upon which the student is required to walk must be set off
the road by no less than three feet from the edge of the road;

���� (2)� in the case of walkways
perpendicular to the road, if the traffic volume on the road exceeds the rate
of 360 vehicles per hour, per direction during school arrival or dismissal
periods at an uncontrolled site, which is defined as a site where no crossing
guard, traffic enforcement officer, or stop sign or other traffic control
signal is present during the times students walk to and from school;

���� (3)� if a student is required
to traverse an at-grade main-line railroad crossing;

���� (4) if a student is required
to cross a limited-access highway or interstate that is without a dedicated
pedestrian grade separation;

���� (5) if a student is required
to cross a bridge or overpass without a separated pedestrian accommodation; or

���� (6) if a student is required
to cross an arterial roadway of five or more through lanes with posted speed of
40 miles per hour or greater.

���� Certain other criteria are
listed in the bill as criteria which may be considered in the designation of a
hazardous route.�

���� The bill provides that a
school district and the State or local entity responsible for the road, will
submit to the Commissioner of Education a joint certification designating a
route as hazardous, in accordance with the criteria prescribed by the commissioner.�
It will be the State Board of Education�s responsibility to promulgate
regulations to establish: inspection and documentation protocols for a joint
certification; standard forms for certification, decertification, and
recertification of a hazardous route; rules for resolving disagreements between
a school district and the governmental entity responsible for the road
regarding the designation of a hazardous route; annual recertification and
decertification requirements; and data reporting requirements.

���� The bill establishes
categorical State aid for students who receive courtesy busing services along a
hazardous route designated pursuant to the provisions of the bill.� The commissioner
will determine the per pupil amount of hazardous route State aid.� For
subsequent school years, the per pupil amount will be established in the
Educational Adequacy Report.

���� The bill repeals a section of
law that concerned the designation of hazardous routes and provided broad
criteria for that designation.�