Sponsored by:
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex)
Senator TROY SINGLETON
District 7 (Burlington)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Turner, Gopal and Pou
SYNOPSIS
Establishes “Male Teachers of Color Mentorship Pilot Program;” appropriates $50,000.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Senate Education Committee on January 14, 2021, with amendments.
An Act establishing a “Male Teachers of Color Mentorship Pilot Program” and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Education shall establish a three-year “Male Teachers of Color Mentorship Pilot Program.” The purpose of the program is to create mentoring relationships between male students of color, who are enrolled in educator preparation programs at senior public institutions of higher education, and male teachers of color currently employed by a school district. The commissioner shall select to participate in the pilot program one or more senior public institutions of higher education, which offer an educator preparation program, and one or more school districts that each employ at least one male teacher of color.
b. The commissioner shall, based on a competitive application process, select 10 male students of color enrolled in an educator preparation program at the senior public institutions of higher education selected for participation in the pilot program and 10 male teachers of color from the school districts selected for participation in the pilot program. A student shall be eligible for the pilot program if he is enrolled in the final year of an educator preparation program at a participating institution.
c. The commissioner shall pair each participating male student of color with a participating male teacher of color. The teacher shall serve as the student’s mentor through the student’s final year of the educator preparation program in which he is enrolled and the first two years of his employment as a teacher 1[.
The school district in which the mentoring teacher is employed shall commit to hiring the participating student with whom the teacher has been paired, upon the student’s graduation from an educator preparation program] , if the student is hired for employment in the participating district upon graduation from an educator preparation program1.
d. 1A school district providing mentoring services under the provisions of this act shall conduct a review of the student’s performance under the “Male Teachers of Color Mentorship Pilot Program” following completion of the student’s final year in an educator preparation program. A school district that provides mentoring services to a student pursuant to the provisions of this section shall make a good faith effort to hire a student who receives a favorable review pursuant to the provisions of this subsection following the student’s graduation from an educator preparation program.
e.1 A male teacher of color participating as a mentor in the pilot program shall receive a stipend of $5,000 for each year in which he participates in the pilot program.
1[e] f1 . At the conclusion of the pilot program, the commissioner shall submit a report to the Governor, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), on the implementation and effectiveness of the pilot program. The report shall include the commissioner’s recommendation on the advisability of the program’s continuation and expansion to additional school districts and senior public institutions of higher education in the State.
2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Education $50,000 to establish the “Male Teachers of Color Mentorship Pilot Program.”
3. This act shall take effect immediately.