The Christie-era “New Jersey First Act” adopted in 2011 required all public employees to reside inside New Jersey. 10 years later, lawmakers are considering dropping the restriction for teachers.
S-4203 cleared the Senate Education Committee on Thursday. The bill would amend the current law by deleting “with a school district or an authority, board, body, agency, commission, or instrumentality of the district” from the list of jobs to which the residency requirement applies.
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School officials have repeatedly complained that the restriction makes hiring harder particularly in the COVID-19 pandemic environment. It’s anticipated that the final version of the legislation will make the proposal a pilot program.
Naturally, the majority Democrat Party has invested zero energy in making New Jersey sufficiently affordable such that prospective public school teachers would want to live here. Regardless of how you feel about the law (one judge ruled it unconstitutional back in the spring), it’s hard to see this latest move as anything other than a surrender of sorts.
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