TRENTON–Educatorsshouldspend their time planning and teaching, not filling out endless piles of tedious paperwork. Tothatend,theAssemblyonMarch 18 passed a bill that will create the New JerseyEducatorEvaluationReviewTask Force. Its purpose will be to study and suggest changes to the current public educator evaluation system established under the TEACHNJ Act of 2012.

The bill (S2082/A3413) is sponsored by Assemblywoman Michele Matsikoudis.

“The bureaucracy of the current system doesn’t help improve student learning,” Matsikoudis (R-Union) said. “My district office has been inundated with messages from teachers saying this bill willgivethemmoretimetofocusonwhat truly matters: teaching their students.”

Under the bill, the 13-member task force must deliver its recommendations to the governor and legislature by September 30, with those recommendations to be adopted for the 2025-26 academic year.

Since the 2013-14 school year, public school principals, assistant principals, vice principals and teachers have faced annual evaluations based on student achievements and classroom observations. Teachers were tasked with setting student growth objectives based on state assessments, a time-consuming, paperwork-heavy process, especially for high school teachers who may have 100 students or more. Tenure may be granted or denied based on those scores. Already-tenured educators can lose that status if charges of being ineffective based on those scores are upheld in arbitration.

Asw. Matsikoudis said the push for change is driven by ongoing teacher shortages. The bill now goes to the governor’s desk for signing.