04-25-11 IN THE MATTER OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION'S DENIAL OF PETITION TO ADOPT REGULATIONS IMPLEMENTING THE NEW JERSEY HIGH SCHOOL VOTER REGISTRATION LAW A-5681-09T3
We construe N.J.S.A. 18A:36-28, which prescribes that the Commissioner of Education "shall adopt pursuant to the 'Administrative Procedure Act' . . . rules and regulations necessary to implement the provisions" of the High School Voter Registration Law (the "HSVRL"), N.J.S.A. 18A:36-27, to impose a mandatory, not a directory, obligation upon the Commissioner to adopt regulations implementing the statute.
We affirm the denial of appellants' petition for rulemaking because respondents have enacted regulations under N.J.A.C. 6A:30, Appendix A and B, to monitor compliance with the HSVRL by public school districts. Although appellants contend that those regulations are insufficient, we do not find respondents' chosen method to implement the statute with respect to public schools to be arbitrary or capricious. However, we reverse the denial of appellants' petition with respect to nonpublic schools because N.J.S.A. 18A:36-27 explicitly applies to both public and nonpublic schools, and respondents have not adopted any regulations to implement the HSVRL as to nonpublic schools.
