Office of Legislative Services
State House Annex
P.O. Box 068
Trenton, New Jersey 08625
Legislative Budget and Finance Office
Phone (609) 847-3105
Fax (609) 777-2442
www.njleg.state.nj.us
LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE
[First Reprint]
ASSEMBLY, No. 3260
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
DATED: SEPTEMBER 25, 2024
SUMMARY
Synopsis: Directs Department of Agriculture, in consultation with DOE, to
establish Internet-based school meals application.
Type of Impact: Annual State expenditure increase from the General Fund.
Agencies Affected: Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, and certain
school districts.
Office of Legislative Services Estimate
Fiscal Impact Year 1 Year 2 and Thereafter
State Expenditure Increase $14 million $1 million
The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) estimates that this bill would result in a State
expenditure increase of $14 million in the first year of implementation, and $1 million each
year thereafter. This is based on an Executive Branch estimate provided in a previous fiscal
year, adjusted for inflation, new program qualifications, and increasing program costs. The
primary cost driver would be the cost of developing the online application platform, incurred
by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Education, as well as the cost of
implementing the program in school districts. The expenditure increase also includes
administrative costs, employee benefits, training costs, and equipment services.
The OLS generally agrees with the Executive Branch estimate that was provided, but notes the
Executive estimate was not able to determine the precise level of software integration that
current schools would need to connect with a Statewide Internet-based online school meal
application system. The OLS considers that with the various software systems currently in
place in the State’s schools and varying levels of software needs, the Executive may have
underestimated costs.
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BILL DESCRIPTION
The bill would require the Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of
Education, to develop and make available to each school district and nonpublic school
participating in a school lunch or breakfast program, an Internet-based online school meal
application for eligible students to participate in these programs. A school district or nonpublic
school would have the option to implement and use the Internet-based school meals application.
In the event that the school district or nonpublic school does implement and use the Internet-based
school meals application, the district or school is still required to continue to make available hard
copies of the subsidized school meals application required by current law. A school district or
nonpublic school, which currently provides an Internet-based school meals application, would
have one year from the date of the bill’s enactment to switch to the application developed pursuant
to the bill.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
The Executive Branch provided a formal fiscal note for a previous version of this bill,
Assembly Bill No. 3501 of the 2018-2019 Session. Using the information provided in 2018 and
adjusting for inflation, the total cost for implementation would be about $14 million for the first
year, and $1 million for each year thereafter. These expenses would include costs for the
development of the online system, software costs, as well as staffing, and maintenance costs. The
primary driver of the estimate is the software costs. Administrative costs associated with the bill
would include staffing expenses for one project manager, one business analyst, one quality
assurance person, one developer, two help desk support staff, and three trainers.
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES
The OLS generally agrees with the Executive Branch estimate that was provided, but notes the
Executive estimate was not able to determine the precise level of software integration schools
would need to connect with a Statewide Internet-based online school meal application system.
The OLS considers that with the various software systems currently in place in the State’s schools
and varying levels of software needs, the Executive may have underestimated program costs. The
OLS has modified the Executive Branch estimate for inflation, new program qualifications, and
increasing program costs.
In order to satisfy the bill’s provisions, each school would need to be connected to several
systems such as a student enrollment database, direct certification database, verification sampling
software, and a meal counting and claiming system in order to provide the full benefits of an
integrated online environment. In addition, the Statewide online system would need to be
connected to a secure school database that would save the information that households submit
through individual applications. Each school would therefore have to have several systems in
place in order to connect with the Statewide online system. The software systems currently in
place in each school vary, and, therefore, the level of software integration needed for each school
to connect to a Statewide online system would also vary, thereby affecting cost estimates for
system integration. A higher level of software integration needed in any given school would result
in additional expenditures. The OLS also notes that, given school variance in access to information FE to A3260 [1R]
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technology resources, some schools may need additional resources to establish and support the
new systems.
Section: Environment, Agriculture, Energy, and Natural Resources
Analyst: Anna Heckler
Assistant Fiscal Analyst
Approved: Thomas Koenig
Legislative Budget and Finance Officer
This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the
failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.
This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).