S1857

An Act establishing a community schools pilot program and supplementing chapter 6 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

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

1. As used in this act, “community schools” means partnerships between public schools, nonprofit organizations, and local governments to provide an integrated focus on academics, health, and social services, youth and community development, expanded learning time and opportunities, actively engage families, and foster collaborative practices based on an individual community’s identified need.

2. a. The Commissioner of Education shall establish a five-year “Community Schools Pilot Program” in the Department of Education. The objective of the pilot program shall be to facilitate the establishment of community schools. Under the pilot program, any school district or charter school shall be able to receive training regarding the establishment of a community school, and no more than 50 schools shall be assigned a site coordinator who shall assist in the establishment and operations of a community school.

b. No later than three months following the effective date of this act, the commissioner shall issue a request for proposals to identify a qualified nonprofit organization located in the State whose mission is to facilitate high quality community schools in New Jersey to manage the pilot program. Upon selecting an organization to manage the pilot program, the commissioner shall enter into a contract with that organization specifying its duties and responsibilities including, but not limited to, those identified in section 3 of this act.

c. No later than six months following the effective date of this act, the commissioner shall survey school districts and charter schools to assess the extent to which community schools have been established. The survey shall obtain information including, but not limited to: 1) identifying school districts and charter schools that have established community schools; 2) listing the entities with which the community school has entered into a partnership for the provision of services; and 3) detailing services that are provided at the community schools. The commissioner shall use the survey results to establish an inventory of community schools, which shall be updated annually.

3. a. The organization selected by the commissioner to manage the pilot program shall make technical assistance available to school districts and charter schools that are participating in the pilot program. The organization shall also make group training sessions and materials about community school operations accessible to any school district or charter school that expresses an interest in developing a community school.

b. (1) The organization, in coordination with the department, shall develop an application procedure for selecting schools, including charter schools, to receive direct support from a site coordinator assigned to the school. Schools shall be selected in three application periods. In each of the first and second application periods, the organization shall select no more than 15 schools to receive a site coordinator. In the third application period, the organization shall select no more than 20 schools to receive a site coordinator. The organization may increase the number of schools that it selects in a subsequent application period if it did not select the maximum number in a prior application period. In no event shall the cumulative number of schools selected to receive a site coordinator exceed 30 after the second application period, or 50 after the third application period.

(2) In selecting schools to receive a site coordinator, the organization may give lower priority to a school district or charter school that is currently receiving federal funds to establish or operate a community school, or give higher priority to a school located in a school district that does not have any schools in which a site coordinator has been assigned.

c. The organization shall employ and train individuals who shall be assigned to serve as a site coordinator in a school that has been selected to receive a site coordinator. Individuals selected to serve as site coordinators shall be employees of the organization, and not the school district or charter school to which they are assigned.

d. The organization may enter into an agreement with another nonprofit entity to assist it in fulfilling any of the responsibilities enumerated in subsections a. through c. of this section.

4. a. The commissioner shall annually enter into a contract with an independent entity to perform an audit of the organization’s accounts and financial transactions. The audit of the prior year’s activities shall be completed no later than five months following the end of the organization’s fiscal year. The audit shall be made available on the Department of Education’s website.

b. The commissioner shall enter into a contract with an independent entity to conduct an evaluation of the pilot program. The entity shall have expertise in evaluating educational programs and the provision of a range of social services. The evaluator shall issue a final report on the implementation of the pilot program no later than six months prior to the pilot program’s completion. The commissioner shall forward the final report to the Governor, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1).

5. There is established in the Department of Education a nonlapsing fund that shall be known as the Community Schools Pilot Program Fund. The fund shall consist of any funds that are appropriated by the Legislature for inclusion in the fund, investment earnings of the fund, and moneys contributed to the fund by private sources. The moneys in the fund shall be invested and reinvested by the Director of the Division of Investment in the Department of the Treasury. Expenditures from the fund shall be exclusively for the purpose of implementing the provisions of this act.

6. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill establishes a five-year Community Schools Pilot Program in the Department of Education. Under the bill, the Commissioner of Education would issue a request for proposals to identify a nonprofit organization located in the State to manage the pilot program. The selected organization would be responsible for providing technical assistance to any school district or charter school that is participating in the pilot program, and would be responsible for making group training sessions and information about community schools available to any district or charter school that is interested in establishing a community school. Additionally, the organization would be responsible for selecting up to 50 schools, including charter schools, that would receive direct assistance from a site coordinator assigned to the school.

The commissioner would annually enter into a contract with an independent entity to perform an audit of the organization’s accounts and financial transactions. The audits, which must be completed no later than five months following the organization’s fiscal year, would be posted on the Department of Education’s website. The bill also requires that the commissioner enter into a contract with an independent entity to conduct an evaluation of the pilot program. The final report, which the organization would forward to the Governor and the Legislature, would be due no later than six months prior to the conclusion of the pilot program.

It is the sponsor’s intent that the pilot program would cost a total of $26 million over the five-year period. These expenses would include the organization’s administrative expenses for operating the program, compensation for the site coordinators, and the cost of the independent evaluation.