Official Site of The State of New Jersey
Commissioner Decisions: Controversies and Disputes
This site includes decisions issued by the Commissioner from 1997 to the present, with the exception of settlements and withdrawals. Letter decisions and decisions from interim proceedings may not be included.
Please note that, for years prior to 2019, this site generally includes only the Commissioner’s decision, which in most cases represents the adoption, rejection, or modification of an initial decision of the Office of Administrative Law (OAL). For some cases, a copy of the initial decision or a case synopsis providing a summary of the initial decision may be included. Readers may also wish to visit the Rutgers University Law School Administrative Law Decisions page, where initial decisions may be accessed by inputting the OAL docket number in the box for “Enter search terms,” selecting “Education” from the dropdown box for agencies, and clicking the button for “Search Initial Decisions.” Please note that some case synopses may include links to a previous version of the Rutgers Administrative Law Decisions page that is no longer active. If you attempt to access one of the links provided in a case synopsis and receive an error message, you may access the initial decision by visiting the current page and searching for the OAL docket number. The Rutgers page may also be used to conduct research by inputting keywords in the search terms box.
For Commissioner decisions issued in 2019 or later, a copy of the initial decision is included after the Commissioner decision.
Decisions issued from 1992 through July 10, 1997 are published in the New Jersey Administrative Reports (N.J.A.R.2d), which may be available through the New Jersey State Library or other sources.
Commissioner decisions issued prior to 1992 are published digitally by the New Jersey State Library in a series of volumes entitled New Jersey School Law Decisions.
Appeals
Prior to the enactment of P.L. 2008, c. 36 on July 7, 2008, State Board of Examiners, School Ethics Commission, and Commissioner of Education decisions were appealable to the State Board of Education, except for decisions involving the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA), which were final agency decisions appealable directly to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court. Decisions of the State Board of Education are available on the State Board of Education Legal Decisions page.
As of July 7, 2008, decisions of the State Board of Examiners and the School Ethics Commission became appealable to the Commissioner of Education. For Commissioner decisions that review a decision of the School Ethics Commission, please visit the School Ethics Commission Decisions page to access the underlying decision. For Commissioner decisions that review a decision of the State Board of Examiners, please visit the State Board of Examiners Legal Decisions page to access the underlying decision.
Select individual decision below:
The following list is in chronological order, organized by year.
The decisions are in Adobe PDF format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader version 3.0 or higher to view them. Be sure to read the instructions that come with the reader carefully for information on viewing and printing documents.