Assembly committee advances bill to change reimbursement for auxiliary services to nonpublic school students

The Assembly committee on [legislative session] advanced A4854 as amended on a voice/roll call vote, directing the commissioner of education to establish a process for reimbursing school districts for costs incurred to provide auxiliary or remedial services to eligible nonpublic school students.

The bill’s sponsor told the committee the measure does not increase the overall allocation for the program but “changes some of the funding mechanisms and ensures that all the funds that are allocated actually goes to the students it was intended to serve.” The sponsor said roughly 20% of annual funds in recent years have been returned unused and that the bill intends to reduce that leakage.

AARP, education groups and administrative stakeholders were listed in the written record either in favor or opposed; the committee read in organizational positions and asked witnesses to enter testimony where needed. No additional program funding was added in the amendment the committee considered.

Committee members asked no substantive questions on the floor before a motion to release the bill. The committee recorded unanimous affirmative votes from members present and released the bill as amended for further legislative processing.

The bill, as described in the committee packet, revises the statute that governs state aid allocation for auxiliary and remedial services to students attending nonpublic schools and requires administrative steps to ensure reimbursements to districts for documented costs, rather than changing the overall appropriation amount.

Next steps: the bill was released as amended and will proceed through the Assembly’s legislative process for additional committee or floor consideration.