The Legislature: Structure & Composition

The New Jersey Legislature is a bicameral body consisting of two chambers — the Senate (upper house) and the General Assembly (lower house) — seated in the State House in Trenton.

Districts & Representation

Members of the New Jersey Legislature are chosen from 40 electoral districts. Each district elects one Senator and two Assembly members. New Jersey is one of seven U.S. states in which districts for the upper and lower house of the legislature are coterminous.

The Senate has 40 members serving four-year terms. Senators must be a minimum of 30 years old and a resident of the state for four years to be eligible to serve. Senators last stood for election statewide in 2023; the next Senate elections are scheduled for 2027.

The General Assembly has 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts using plurality block voting for a term of two years. All 80 Assembly seats are up for election every two years.

Leadership

The General Assembly is headed by a Speaker, while the Senate is headed by a President. Each house also has a majority leader, a minority leader, assistant leaders, and whips.

The key education committee chairs for the current (2024–2026) legislative session are: Assembly Education Committee — Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-District 15); Assembly Higher Education Committee — Linda S. Carter (D-District 22).

Compensation & Session

Service as a State Senator or Member of the General Assembly is considered part-time, and most legislators have other employment. Effective 2002, the annual base salary was $49,000. Beginning in 2026, the base salary will increase to $82,000. Additionally, each legislator receives an annual allowance of $150,000 for staff salaries.

Legislative terms run on a two-year cycle. Article IV of the New Jersey Constitution provides that each Legislature is constituted for a term of two years, split into two annual sessions. At the end of the second year, all unfinished business expires.

Current Political Landscape

New Jersey has a Democratic trifecta and a Democratic triplex. The Democratic Party controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature.

Following the November 2025 elections, Democrats significantly expanded their power. Democrats won a 57–23 majority in the General Assembly in 2025. The Senate, which was not on the ballot in 2025, remains at a 25–15 Democratic majority from the 2023 elections. Democrats secured a legislative supermajority in the Assembly, their largest margin in decades.

Governor: Governor Mikie Sherrill was inaugurated on January 20, 2026, succeeding term-limited Phil Murphy. Sherrill appointed Lily Laux as Commissioner of Education, replacing Kevin Dehmer. The new 222nd Legislature convened January 13, 2026, and the 2026–2027 session is now underway.

Legislative Year in Review: 2024–2025 Session

The 221st Legislature (2024–2025) was active on education, with major themes including literacy, early childhood expansion, educator evaluation reform, and — most significantly for assessment — a direct challenge to the NJGPA graduation exam.

I. Assessment & Accountability

NJGPA Elimination Bill (A-4121) — The most significant assessment-related action of the session

On December 8, 2025, the New Jersey State Assembly passed a bill by a 55–17 vote to eliminate the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA). Sponsored by Assemblywoman Michele Matsikoudis (R-Union), the bill (A-4121) would prohibit the State Board of Education from including a statewide graduation proficiency test in its standards for high school graduation or requiring it as a prerequisite to receiving a state-endorsed diploma.

The bill's supporters argued that the exam had lost its utility. Matsikoudis said before the Education Committee vote: "Students do not take it seriously. Districts can't rely on the results. The data simply does not reflect real student learning. At the same time, administering this test pulls valuable time and resources from classroom instruction."

Opponents raised accountability concerns. Critics noted that the vote came at the same time the state was rolling out the new adaptive NJSLA with little clarity on whether results would be comparable across districts or aligned to any consistent performance standard, potentially leaving New Jersey in a period where understanding how schools are performing becomes near-impossible.

The bill did not advance in the Senate before the session ended January 13, 2026, and any bills not signed into law before the end of the session needed to be reintroduced and moved through the normal legislative process in the new 222nd Legislature. This bill was not signed and effectively died, meaning the NJGPA remains in place — now in its new adaptive form.

Educator Evaluation Reform (S-2082/A-3413 — P.L.2024, c.14)

Governor Murphy signed legislation establishing the New Jersey Educator Evaluation Review Task Force to study and evaluate the educator evaluation system. Under the law, teachers are not to collect new student growth observation (SGO) data in the 2024–2025 school year, and are instead to use existing SGO data from the most recent year in which the educator completed SGOs for evaluation purposes. A follow-on bill in 2025 extended this SGO pause into the following year.

Teacher Certification Testing (A-1669 — P.L.2024, c.26)

Signed June 28, 2024, this law removes obstacles to teacher certification, repealing the requirement for teaching candidates to take basic skills tests in reading, writing, and math as a prerequisite for an instructional certificate.

II. Literacy & Early Learning

Literacy Framework Bills (S-2644/A-4303 and A-2288/S-2647)

Signed August 2024, these two bills were the Murphy administration's signature literacy response to persistent post-pandemic score gaps. The first bill establishes a Working Group on Student Literacy to make recommendations on evidence-based literacy strategies and screening methods. Districts are required to conduct literacy screenings at least twice annually for students in grades K–3, beginning in the 2025–2026 school year. Districts must notify parents and guardians of their child's results within 30 days of the close of the initial screening period. The second bill establishes the Office of Learning Equity and Academic Recovery in the Department of Education to promote student literacy and advance learning equity through data-driven decisions, resource coordination, and best practices research.

Universal Preschool Expansion (S-3910/A-5717 and related bills)

Signed July 9, 2025, the "New Jersey Universal Preschool and Kindergarten Act" requires the NJDOE to provide annual preschool expansion grants, codifies preschool education aid requirements, establishes a three-year Preschool Cost-Sharing Pilot Program, and creates a Universal Preschool Implementation Steering Committee. The FY2026 budget included a $34.6 million increase in preschool education aid, bringing the total to $1.27 billion.

III. Other Notable Education Legislation

Cell Phone / Internet Device Policy (A-4882/S-3695 — P.L.2025, c.195)

Signed January 8, 2026, this law requires the NJDOE to develop guidelines on student use of internet-enabled devices and will require each board of education to adopt a policy consistent with those guidelines beginning with the 2026–2027 school year. The guidelines will prohibit the non-academic use of internet-enabled devices on school grounds during the school day.

Cursive Handwriting Instruction (S-1783 — P.L.2025, c.284)

Signed January 19, 2026, this law requires school districts to incorporate instruction on cursive handwriting into the curriculum for students in elementary schools, with students expected to be proficient in reading and writing cursive legibly by the end of third grade.

Charter School Transparency (A-5936/S-4713 — P.L.2025, c.277)

Signed January 20, 2026, this law establishes new transparency and accountability requirements for charter school operators.

CTE Teacher Certification (A-5824/S-4515 — P.L.2025, c.216)

Signed January 12, 2026, this law prohibits the State Board of Education from requiring a candidate for a certificate of eligibility in a career and technical education endorsement to complete an educator preparation program that exceeds 200 hours of instruction or one academic year.

Looking Ahead: 2026–2027 Session

The new 222nd Legislature convened in January 2026 under a stronger Democratic supermajority in the Assembly and the new Sherrill administration. Key education priorities likely to resurface include school funding formula reform, a potential reintroduction of NJGPA elimination legislation (or a replacement accountability framework), and continued implementation of the adaptive NJSLA-A rollout. Governor Sherrill's new Commissioner of Education, Lily Laux, will set the tone for the administration's education agenda as it takes shape through the spring budget process.