18A:38-21.1. Termination of sending-receiving relationship.

1. a. Notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.18A:38-13 and N.J.S.18A:38-21, any board of education which sends students to another school district may terminate a sending-receiving relationship pursuant to the following conditions:

(1) The resident enrollment of the receiving district shall represent more than 95% of the total student enrollment attending the receiving district and the number of students from the sending district who attend the receiving district shall represent less than three percent of the total student enrollment attending the receiving district. Enrollments shall be determined using resident enrollment figures compiled in October of the preceding school year;

(2) The sending district shall agree to join a regional school district subsequent to the termination of its sending-receiving relationship;

(3) Any secondary school student in the sending district at the time of termination of the sending-receiving relationship shall be permitted to complete his secondary education within the receiving district. The sending-receiving relationship shall be continued for these students;

(4) The termination will not significantly disrupt the racial composition of the sending and receiving school districts; and

(5) A petition of the sending district to terminate the sending-receiving relationship has not been denied since January 1, 1988 by the Commissioner of Education, the State Board of Education, or the New Jersey courts for reasons which include the impact on the racial composition of the pupil population of the districts.

b. Any school district which meets the conditions of subsection a. of this section must take final action to terminate its sending-receiving relationship within three years following the effective date of this act.

c. Any school district which has taken final action to terminate its sending-receiving relationship pursuant to this section shall notify the receiving school district no later than December 1 of the school year prior to the school year in which the termination is to occur. Termination of the sending-receiving relationship shall not occur until the sending district has been admitted to an existing regional school district pursuant to N.J.S.18A:13-43 and N.J.S.18A:13-44, or subsection d. of this section, or has become part of a newly formed all purpose regional district pursuant to N.J.S.18A:13-34 and N.J.S.18A:13-35.

d. Notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.18A:13-43 and N.J.S.18A:13-44, upon the effective date of P.L.1996, c.91 (C.18A:38-21.1), a school district which meets the conditions of subsection a. of this section shall be admitted to an existing regional school district upon the adoption of a resolution by its board of education and the board of education of the regional school district approving the inclusion of the school district within the regional district. Copies of the resolutions shall be forwarded to the county superintendent or superintendents of the counties in which the districts are situate. The county superintendent or superintendents shall notify the commissioner and the enlargement of the regional district by the admission of the proposed constituent district shall become effective on the 20th day following the adoption of the resolutions.

e. Notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.18A:13-8, N.J.S.18A:13-36, and N.J.S.18A:13-46, the board of education of a regional school district which admits a new constituent school district by resolution pursuant to the provisions of subsection d. of this section shall be composed of 11 members unless the regional district consists of more than 11 members. One of the additional board members shall represent the new constituent district and shall be appointed by the county superintendent of the county in which the new constituent district is situate. The second additional member shall be apportioned among the other constituent districts of the regional school district as determined by the county superintendent or superintendents of the county or counties in which the constituent local districts of the enlarged district are situate. The members so appointed shall serve until the first Monday succeeding the first annual school election of the enlarged regional district and their successors shall be elected at that election.

L.1993,c.384,s.1; amended 1996, c.91.