Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH A. LAGANA
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Requires boards of education and school bus contractors to designate individuals as certain school bus safety personnel.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring certain school bus safety personnel and supplementing chapter 39 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. A board of education or a contractor that provides pupil transportation services under contract with a board of education shall designate at least one individual to serve as a school bus safety manager, or as a supervisor of driver improvement. A school bus safety manager’s responsibilities shall include: ensuring compliance with State and federal laws, rules, and regulations regarding school bus safety; providing periodic training in the proper use of emergency equipment; and the dissemination of industry best practices for avoiding accidents. A supervisor of driver improvement’s responsibilities shall include: providing professional development, including individualized behind the wheel training, to school bus drivers; and periodically accompanying school bus drivers on their appointed school bus routes.
b. A current employee who meets the qualifications established pursuant to section 3 of this act may satisfy the requirements of this section.
2. The Commissioner of Education may perform random audits of a board of education or contractor to ensure compliance with the provisions of section 1 of this act at any time. A board of education or contractor shall require that each school bus safety manager and supervisor of driver improvement that it has designated completes the documentation required pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, in consultation with the Department of Education, to demonstrate compliance. The board of education or contractor shall retain copies of the documentation in accordance with those regulations.
3. The Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, in consultation with the Department of Education, shall promulgate regulations pursuant to the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to effectuate the provisions of this act. The regulations shall establish the qualifications necessary for an individual to be designated as a school bus safety manager or supervisor of driver improvement and the documentation that a board of education or contractor is required to retain to demonstrate compliance with this act, including the amount of time that the documentation is required to be retained.
4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall first be applicable to the first full school year following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires that boards of education and contractors that provide school transportation services under contract with boards of education designate at least one individual to serve as a school bus safety manager or supervisor of driver improvement. The bill requires these entities to designate individuals to serve as school bus safety managers, whose responsibilities are to include: ensuring compliance with State and federal laws, rules, and regulations regarding school bus safety; providing periodic training in the proper use of emergency equipment; and the dissemination of industry best practices for avoiding accidents. A supervisor of driver improvement’s responsibilities would include: providing professional development, including individualized behind the wheel training, to school bus drivers; and periodically accompanying school bus drivers on their appointed school bus routes.
Under the bill, the Commissioner of Education is authorized to audit compliance with the bill’s provisions. The school bus safety personnel is required to complete, and the board of education or contractor is required to retain, documentation to demonstrate compliance.
The Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, in consultation with the Department of Education, is to promulgate regulations that establish the qualifications necessary for an individual to be designated to serve as a school bus safety manager or supervisor of driver improvement and the documentation that is required to be retained to demonstrate compliance with the bill’s provisions.