TRENTON – The Senate Education Committee today approved a bill, S-1898, sponsored by Senator Shirley K. Turner that would sharply reduce the current one-year advance notice required to inform school superintendents that their contracts won’t be renewed. The bill now goes to the Senate after the 4-0 committee approval.
“If a school superintendent has a three-year contract, a one-year notice doesn’t give a school board enough time to evaluate performance,” said Senator Turner, D-Mercer, and Chair of the Senate education panel.
Senator Turner’s bill would reduce the notice requirement to 30 days for each year of a contract, meaning a three-year contract could be terminated at its conclusion after a 90-day advance notice and a five-year contract could be non-renewed after a notice of 150 days.
“This proposal is especially reasonable in light of the fact that there is no notice requirement for school administrators who decide to leave a school district,” Senator Turner said.
Under current law, a superintendent’s contract is renewed automatically if the one-year notice is not tendered in a timely manner by a local school board , Senator Turner said