New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 6A - EDUCATION
Chapter 26 - EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
Subchapter 2 - LONG-RANGE FACILITIES PLANS
Section 6A:26-2.2 - Completion of long-range facilities plans

Universal Citation: NJ Admin Code 6A:26-2.2

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 6, March 18, 2024

(a) Each LRFP shall include:

1. Enrollment projections for the school district for the five years covered by the plan, by grade level, as set forth in the Fall Survey Report for grades K through 12 and the ASSA for preschool programs, and utilizing enrollment figures as of October 15 of the previous year as the base enrollment figures. Students enrolled in the school district who are attending charter schools, students attending the schools of the school district pursuant to the school choice program, and students enrolled in the school district but attending private schools for the disabled shall be separately identified in enrollment projections, and shall be excluded from the calculation of the number of unhoused students pursuant to (b) below.
i. The enrollment figures shall be certified by a qualified demographer;

ii. The resume and any other professional credentials relied upon by the school district to demonstrate that the person who prepared the enrollment projection possesses adequate experience to be considered a qualified demographer shall be submitted as part of the school district's LRFP. Adequate experience shall include preparation of enrollment reports and projections on behalf of school districts, both in fulfillment of statutory or regulatory obligations and for other purposes. School district employees, such as the chief administrator and school business administrator, as well as persons hired by a school district may, if they possess the requisite experience, serve as a qualified demographer;

iii. Projections shall be for the five ensuing years utilizing a cohort survival method, shall utilize pertinent live births of residents of the community provided by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services and shall include enrollment trends for the previous five years as set forth in the previous six Fall Survey Reports or ASSA, as appropriate;

iv. Where a school district does not believe a five-year projection utilizing a cohort survival method will accurately predict future enrollment, the school district shall submit additional data and justification for consideration by the Commissioner;

v. A school district shall adjust enrollment projections to account for significant numbers of students who are attending charter schools; and

vi. ECPA school districts shall make appropriate adjustments to enrollment projections for preschool children based on the history of the actual enrollments in those programs and consistent with the school district's approved ECPA plan;

2. The functional capacity of every school facility in the school district, listed separately by facility and grade level, including an inventory of all spaces in each facility;

3. An inventory of every school facility, other facility and temporary facility in the school district.
i. If a school district shares or leases facilities or any portion thereof, either as a lessor or lessee, all such spaces shall be included in its LRFP.

ii. All facilities, or portions thereof, owned by a school district that are leased or otherwise conveyed to another entity shall be included if the facility, or portion thereof, will become available for use by the school district in the ensuing five years. Only the terms of leases currently in effect shall be considered when determining whether a space will be available to the school district in the ensuing five years.

iii. All facilities, or portions thereof, acquired by the school district through a leasehold agreement, or to which the school district is otherwise entitled to possession by any legal arrangement, shall be included for the period covered by the plan during which the school district is entitled to use of the facility;

4. An inventory of all school district-owned land, indicating whether used currently, previously, or never, as a school site, with a map of the school district indicating the location of all school district-owned land and the location of existing schools in the school district;

5. A listing of the approximate size and nature of any new sites that may be needed for school facilities projects set forth in the LRFP, listing the specific project(s) to be constructed on each site;

6. An inventory of all building systems within each facility, including structure, enclosure, mechanical, plumbing, interior walls and finishes and electrical systems;

7. A determination of the life expectancy of all building systems;

8. A determination of any building system deficiencies in each school facility and the required remediation;

9. The school district's proposed school facilities projects and other capital projects and preliminary scopes of work in the five years ensuing, setting forth each proposed new school facility, addition and renovation, including each separate space to be constructed or renovated (for example, classrooms, art and music rooms, cafeterias, gymnasiums), the functional capacity of each proposed school facility and the priority tier pursuant to 18A:7G-5(m), and all school facilities to be sold, converted to other non-school facility uses or razed;

10. The school district's proposed programmatic models for school facility types and capacities the school district intends to operate in the five years ensuing;

11. A comparison of the school district's proposed programmatic models with the facilities efficiency standards and identification of all types of spaces, sizes of spaces and number of spaces inconsistent with those standards. The school district shall note for all spaces that are inconsistent with the facilities efficiency standards whether it intends to seek a waiver of a facilities efficiency standard, locally fund the space, or seek approval for funding of additional space;

12. A comparison of the school district's programmatic models with the existing inventory and how the school district proposes to convert the existing inventory to the programmatic models;

13. The school district's proposed plans for new construction and renovation of other facilities in the five years ensuing, setting forth each proposed new other facility, addition and renovation, including each separate space to be constructed or renovated and all other facilities to be sold, converted to other non-school facility uses or razed;

14. For each school facility set forth in the LRFP for which the school district is seeking approval of additional space or waiver of a facility efficiency standard to be approved as part of the LRFP, the school district shall submit documentation supporting the request in accordance with 6A:26-2.3(c);

15. For each school facility to be replaced, a preliminary comparison of the cost of replacement of the school facility verses the cost to rehabilitate the school facility;

16. Preliminary data to support each proposed new school facility or addition, renovation to an existing school facility and the removal from the school district's inventory of school facilities each school facility to be sold, converted to non-school facility use or razed;

17. A preliminary estimate of the cost of every school facilities project set forth in the LRFP; and

18. A district board of education resolution approving submission of the LRFP.

(b) Each LRFP shall include a determination by the school district of the number of unhoused students for the ensuing five-year period calculated as follows:

1. The number of unhoused students shall be the number of FTE students projected to be enrolled in preschool disabled, preschool, kindergarten, grades one through 12 and special education student programs to be provided in the school district in the ensuing five years that exceed the functional capacity of the school district's current school facilities or school facilities that will be available within five years, including community provider facilities housing preschool students, excluding projects which have been approved pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:26-3. Projected enrollments and functional capacity shall be separately determined for early childhood and elementary students (preschool through grade five), middle school students (grades six through eight) and high school students (grades nine through 12). For the purpose of calculating the school district's unhoused students, special education students shall be considered part of the grade level to which the students' chronological age corresponds. In the event approval is granted for a school facilities project which involves the construction of a new school facility to replace an existing school facility, the calculation of the number of unhoused students shall exclude the functional capacity of the facility to be replaced.

(c) Approved area for unhoused students (AU) shall be determined according to the following formula:

AU = (UEC x SEC) + (UE x SE) + (UM x SM) + (UH x SH) where UEC, UE, UM, UH are the numbers of unhoused students in the early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school enrollment categories, respectively; and SEC, SE, SM, SH are the area allowances per FTE student in preschool and kindergarten, grades one through five, grades six through eight, and grades nine through 12, respectively. Area allowances shall be determined based on the grade level of a student regardless of the grade configurations of the school buildings of the school district. Gross square footage is to be used for these determinations.

(d) An ECPA school district is encouraged to include one or more community provider early childhood education facilities projects, including projects of Head Start providers that qualify as community providers, as part of its LRFP. Superintendents are strongly encouraged to meet and collaborate with community early childhood education providers to meet the needs of unhoused students in the LRFP.

(e) The school district shall incorporate the facilities efficiency standards in the LRFP.

1. If the LRFP includes a proposal for new construction or rehabilitation of a school facility that does not meet the facilities efficiency standards, the school district shall seek, as part of the LRFP approval, a waiver for those components that are not consistent with the standards.

2. If the LRFP includes a proposal for new construction pursuant to 18A:7G-7(a), or rehabilitation pursuant to 18A:7G-7(b), of a school facility that exceeds the facilities efficiency standards, the school district may seek Commissioner approval of that additional space and, if approved, such space will be deemed eligible for State funding. If the school district does not seek Commissioner approval for the additional space, the school district shall state that fact in its submission and that space will be deemed ineligible for State support at the time of approval of the LRFP.

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. New Jersey may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.