Sponsors still aiming to move bill barring use of school resources for politics

This story was updated at 1:24 p.m.

Lawmakers in the Senate are working to advance a bill that would bar school officials from using their position or resources available to them because of the same to engage in politics.

“The school administrators and school districts had some concerns on it, so we’re trying to work with the stakeholders before moving the bill,” said State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Long Branch), its sponsor in the upper chamber.

After this story as published, Gopal, seeking to clarify, said the bill may not be moved if lawmakers reach an agreement with stakeholders.

The bill would amend the School Ethics Act to bar officials from using taxpayer resources — like official district letterhead, email lists or social media accounts — to engage in politics.

The Assembly Education Committee cleared the bill on May 12, but it has seen little movement since in either chamber.

A previous version of the measure imposed broader restrictions on school officials’ political activity, but the measure was amended during a committee hearing to only prohibit political activity using school resources.

The earlier version also limited its prohibition on political activity to the 90 days preceding an election. No such limit exists in the version advanced by the Assembly, where it is sponsored by Assemblywoman Joann Downey (D-Freehold) and Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling (D-Neptune).

It’s not clear whether the measure will move before the end of June. The Senate Education Committee has no hearings scheduled before the end of the month, and the legislature does not typically meet in July and August. Its schedule for the fall is also expected to be lax given every seat in the legislature is up for election in November.

The measure was spurred by a 2019 letter sent by a superintendent in the 11th district that named the district’s legislators, tying them to school funding cuts imposed by changes to the state’s funding formula.

“We have that rule,” Gopal said. “We can’t send out communications, so you shouldn’t be able to send any taxpayer database in doing that.”