Sponsored by:
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex)
Senator DIANE B. ALLEN
District 7 (Burlington)
Assemblyman JAMEL C. HOLLEY
District 20 (Union)
Assemblywoman ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT
District 31 (Hudson)
Assemblyman TROY SINGLETON
District 7 (Burlington)
SYNOPSIS
Directs DOE to make database of special education decisions available on website.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As amended by the Senate on June 23, 2016.
An Act concerning access to legal decisions regarding special education and supplementing chapter 46 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. The Department of Education shall 1[maintain and]1 make available on its website an electronic database of legal decisions concerning special education in New Jersey. The purpose of the database shall be to provide parents, school districts, child study team members, and other interested members of the public with easily accessible information on legal decisions regarding New Jersey special education matters.
b. The database shall contain a full-text copy of each written decision rendered by the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law in a special education due process hearing, and, if the decision is appealed, any subsequent decision on the matter rendered by a court of the State of New Jersey or a federal court. The database shall include each special education decision rendered after the effective date of this act.
1c. The department may meet the requirements of this section by maintaining the database directly on its website or by entering into a memorandum of understanding with another entity or organization that maintains an electronic database of the legal decisions, provided that the database is easily accessible to the general public and the department’s website contains a link to the database or information on how to access and use the database.1
2. This act shall take effect 1[immediately] on the first day of the seventh month next following the date of enactment1.