A1043

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman MILA M. JASEY

District 27 (Essex and Morris)

Assemblywoman ANNETTE QUIJANO

District 20 (Union)

Assemblywoman BETTYLOU DECROCE

District 26 (Essex, Morris and Passaic)

Assemblywoman SHAVONDA E. SUMTER

District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)

Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY

District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Vainieri Huttle

SYNOPSIS

Establishes “New Jersey Out-of-School Time Advisory Commission” to review before-school, after-school, and summer programs.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

An Act establishing the “New Jersey Out-of-School Time Advisory Commission.”

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. There is established a New Jersey Out-of-School Time Advisory Commission. The commission shall consist of 20 members, including the Commissioners of Education, Human Services, and Children and Families, ex officio, or their designees, the Secretary of Higher Education, ex officio, or a designee, one member of the Senate appointed by the President of the Senate, one member of the General Assembly appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, and 14 public members appointed by the Governor, including one representative from each of the following: the New Jersey Council for Young Children; the Association for Children of New Jersey; the New Jersey School Age Care Coalition; the New Jersey Association of School Administrators; the New Jersey Parent-Teacher Association; the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network; the New Jersey Education Association; the New Jersey State Federation of Teachers; the New Jersey School Boards Association; the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association; the New Jersey Charter Schools Association; the Advisory Committee for Nonpublic Schools of the Department of Education; the New Jersey Child Care Association; and one academic researcher in the field of youth development.

2. All appointments shall be made within 30 days after the effective date of this act. Vacancies in the membership of the commission shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments were made. Members of the commission shall serve without compensation but shall be entitled to their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties within the limits of funds made available to the commission for its purposes.

3. The commission shall organize within 30 days after the appointment of its members and shall select a chairperson and a vice-chairperson from among its Legislative members and a secretary who need not be a member of the commission.

4. The chairperson shall retain and may remove at his pleasure a consultant and other such personnel as he may deem necessary for the performance of the commission’s duties, and shall fix their compensation within the amounts made available. The duties of the consultant shall include, but need not be limited to, organizing public hearings, conducting site visits, facilitating the interaction between the commission and work groups, and preparing the interim and final reports.

5. It shall be the duty of the commission to:

a. assess the state of out-of-school time programs in New Jersey by reviewing the policies of all State agencies that fund before-school, after-school, or summer programs, as well as review existing research and best practices;

b. adopt appropriate Statewide standards for out-of-school time program design, implementation, and assessment;

c. examine the existing amount of funding available for out-of-school time programs and the source of the funding; and

d. examine the development and operation of out-of-school time programs in urban, suburban, and rural school districts, and make recommendations to increase the accountability and quality of the before-school, after-school, and summer programs.

6. Staff and related support services shall be provided to the commission by the Department of Education. The commission shall be entitled to call to its assistance and avail itself of the services of the employees of any State, county or municipal department, board, bureau, commission or agency as it may require and as may be available for its purposes.

7. The commission shall issue an interim report of its findings and recommendations, including any recommended legislation, to the Governor, the Senate Education Committee, and the Assembly Education Committee, no later than one year after its organizational meeting, and a final report no later than two years after its organizational meeting.

8. This act shall take effect immediately and the commission shall expire 30 days after the submission of the final report.

STATEMENT

This bill establishes a New Jersey Out-of-School Time Advisory Commission. Under the bill, the commission will consist of 20 members including the Commissioners of Education, Human Services, and Children and Families, ex officio, or their designees, the Secretary of Higher Education, ex officio, or a designee, one member of the Senate appointed by the President of the Senate, one member of the General Assembly appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, and 14 public members appointed by the Governor, including one representative from each of the following: the New Jersey Council for Young Children; the Association for Children of New Jersey; the New Jersey School Age Care Coalition; the New Jersey Association of School Administrators; the New Jersey Parent-Teacher Association; the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network; the New Jersey Education Association; the New Jersey State Federation of Teachers; the New Jersey School Boards Association; the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association; the New Jersey Charter Schools Association; the Advisory Committee for Nonpublic Schools of the Department of Education; the New Jersey Child Care Association; and one academic researcher in the field of youth development.

The duties of the commission will be to:

(1) assess the state of out-of-school time programs in New Jersey by reviewing the policies of all State agencies that fund before-school, after-school, or summer programs, as well as review existing research and best practices;

(2) adopt appropriate Statewide standards for out-of-school time program design, implementation, and assessment;

(3) examine the existing amount of funding available for out-of-school time programs and the source of the funding; and

(4) examine the development and operation of out-of-school time programs in urban, suburban, and rural school districts, and make recommendations to increase the accountability and quality of the before-school, after-school, and summer programs.

The bill directs the commission to issue an interim report of its findings and recommendations, including any recommended legislation, to the Governor, the Senate Education Committee, and the Assembly Education Committee, no later than one year after its organizational meeting, and a final report no later than two years after its organizational meeting. The commission will expire 30 days after the submission of the final report.