N.J.S.A. 18A:22-8 — Contents of budget; format.

18A:22-8 Contents of budget; format. 18A:22-8. The budget shall be prepared in such detail and upon such forms as shall be prescribed by the commissioner and to it shall be annexed a statement so itemized as to make the same readily understandable, in which shall be shown: a. In tabular form there shall be set forth the following: (1) The total expenditure for each item for the preceding school year, the amount appropriated for the current school year adjusted for transfers as of February 1 of the current school year, and the amount estimated to be necessary to be appropriated for the ensuing school year, indicated separately for each item as determined by the commissioner; (2) The amount of the surplus account available at the beginning of the preceding school year, at the beginning of the current school year, and the amount anticipated to be available for the ensuing school year; (3) The amount of revenue available for budget purposes for the preceding school year, the amount available for the current school year as of February 1 of the current school year, and the amount anticipated to be available for the ensuing school year in the following categories: (a) Total to be raised by local property taxes (b) Total State aid (i) Equalization aid (ii) Special education categorical aid (iii) Transportation aid (iv) Preschool education aid (v) Security aid (vi) Adjustment aid (vii) Other (detailed at the discretion of the commissioner) (c) Total federal aid (i) Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.s.2701 et seq.) (ii) Students with disabilities (iii) Impact Aid (iv) Vocational (v) Other (detailed at the discretion of the commissioner) (d) Other sources (detailed at the discretion of the commissioner). b. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1993, c.117). c. In the event that the total expenditure for any item of appropriation is equal to $0.00 for: (1) the preceding school year, (2) the current school year, and (3) the amount estimated to be necessary to be appropriated for the ensuing school year, that item shall not be required to be published pursuant to N.J.S.18A:22-11. d. The instruction function of the budget shall be divided at a minimum into elementary (K-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12) cost centers, each of which shall be further divided by the core curriculum content areas. The commissioner shall phase in these requirements as soon as practicable. e. The budget as adopted for the school year pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-5) shall be provided for public inspection on the school district's Internet site, if one exists, and made available in print in a "user-friendly" format using plain language. The Commissioner of Education shall promulgate a "user-friendly," plain language budget summary format for the use of school districts for this purpose. amended 2000, c.72, s.39; 2017, c.131, s.22. 18A:22-8a "User-friendly" plain language budget summary forms for school districts; information; submission; availability. 2. a. The Commissioner of Education shall promulgate "user-friendly," plain language budget summary forms for the use of school districts. The commissioner shall also promulgate a procedure for the submission by each school district of the required budget summary form to the Department of Education following the approval of the budget. b. The plain language budget summary shall provide the public with information in summary form about the budget of the school district and shall include, in addition to an abbreviated version of the formal budget adopted by the school district, such statistical information as the commissioner determines to be useful for the public's understanding of the school district's fiscal matters and condition, and shall also include, but not be limited to, the following information for both the district's budget year and the prebudget year: all line items of appropriation aggregated by item type; the school tax rate; the equalized school tax rate; revenues by major category; the amount of available surplus; a description of unusual revenues or appropriations, with a description of the circumstances of the revenues or appropriations; and a list of shared service agreements in which the district is participating. c. The plain language budget summary shall be submitted to the Department of Education in such form as determined by the commissioner, and, upon its receipt of the summary, the department shall make the summary available to the public through an Internet website maintained by the department in an easily accessible location. The information on the web site shall be presented as data that can be downloaded by the public for comparative purposes using commonly-used software. L.2007, c.53, s.2. 18A:22-8b Required promulgation of forms, procedures. 3. Not later than the first day of the sixth month next following the enactment of P.L.2007, c.53 (C.18A:55-3 et al.), the Commissioner of Education shall promulgate the "user friendly," plain language budget summary forms and procedures required pursuant to section 2 of P.L.2007, c.53 (C.18A:22-8a). L.2007, c.53, s.3. 18A:22-8c Rules, regulations to effectuate certain budgeting, fiscal procedures. 7. Notwithstanding any provision of P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) to the contrary, the Commissioner of Education may adopt, immediately upon filing with the Office of Administrative Law, such rules and regulations as the commissioner deems necessary to effectuate the budgeting and fiscal procedures under chapter 22 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes which shall be effective for a period not to exceed 12 months following the effective date of P.L.2008, c.37 (C.18A:11-13 et al.). The regulations shall thereafter be amended, adopted, or readopted by the commissioner in accordance with the provisions of P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.); and the commissioner shall, at a minimum, hold at least one public hearing in each of the north, central, and southern regions of the State within 60 days of the public notice of any regulations proposed by the commissioner to be amended, adopted, or readopted pursuant to that act. L.2008, c.37, s.7.

This is the verbatim text of N.J.S.A. 18A:22-8, retrieved from the New Jersey Legislature's public statute corpus. Statutes are amended periodically — for the most current version, check the external source link above. Kyzer is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice.