ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
[Second Reprint]
ASSEMBLY, No. 1168
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: MAY 18, 2023
The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 1168 (2R).
As amended, this bill establishes a five-year Community Schools Pilot Program in the Department of Education. The bill defines “community schools” as public schools that participate in a community-based effort to coordinate and integrate educational, developmental, family, health, and other comprehensive services through community-based organizations and public and private partnerships, providing access to these services to students, families, and the community year-round.
Under the bill, the Commissioner of Education is required to identify a nonprofit organization or an institution of higher education located in the State to manage the pilot program. The selected organization or institution of higher education is responsible for providing technical assistance to any school district, renaissance school, or charter school that is participating in the pilot program, and for making group training sessions and information about community schools available to any district, renaissance school, or charter school that is interested in establishing a community school. Additionally, the organization or institution of higher education and the Department of Education would be responsible for selecting one school from each county in the State, including renaissance and charter schools, that would receive direct assistance from a site coordinator assigned to the school.
The organization or institution of higher education, in coordination with the Department of Education, would develop an application procedure and specific criteria for selecting schools to participate in the program and receive direct support from a site coordinator. The selection criteria would be posted on the department’s website. The organization would employ and train individuals who would be assigned to serve as a site coordinator in a school selected to receive one. Those selected to be site coordinators would be required to be employees of the organization or institution of higher education, and not the school district, renaissance school, or charter school to which they are assigned.
The Department of Education is required to develop a list of schools selected to participate in the pilot program, and is required to post the list of schools on the department’s website in a prominent and easily accessible location. A public school selected to participate in the pilot program shall enter into an agreement with the selected organization or institution of higher education outlining at minimum the role, responsibilities, and authority the site coordinator has in supporting the establishment of the community school site. Additionally, the organization or institution of higher education may enter into an agreement with another nonprofit entity to assist it in providing technical assistance to participating schools, conducting training sessions, providing materials to interested schools, and selection of program participants, including the required establishment of a technical assistance center that will be available schools that are participating in the pilot program.
The commissioner would annually receive an audit of the accounts and financial transactions of the organization or institution of higher education for the duration of the pilot program. 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 commissioner is to forward to the Governor and the Legislature, would be due no later than six months following the conclusion of the pilot program.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:
The committee amended the bill to:
· revise the definition of “community schools” to public schools that participate in a community-based effort to coordinate and integrate educational, developmental, family, health, and other comprehensive services through community-based organizations and public and private partnerships, providing access to such services to students, families, and the community year-round;
· remove the requirement for the Commissioner of Education to issue a request for proposals;
· require that the Department of Education develop a list of school selected to participate in the pilot program, and post the list on the department’s website;
· require that the department, in coordination with the organization or institution of higher education, develop specific criteria for selecting schools;
· require that a public school selected to participate in the program enter into an agreement with the organization or institution outlining the minimum role and responsibilities of the site coordinator;
· remove the requirement that the commissioner enter into a contract with an independent entity to perform an audit, and stipulate that the commissioner receive an audit of the accounts and financial transactions of the organization or institution; and
· update the effective date of the bill from immediately to the first day of the fourth month following the date of enactment.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Office of Legislative Services finds that this bill would result in an expenditure increase to the DOE of up to $3 million in the first year of the pilot program for implementation costs. Annual costs to the department thereafter, as well as total costs to operate the five-year pilot program, are indeterminate. The DOE would incur costs to perform new functions and to enter into various contracts required under the bill. The total costs of these contracts are indeterminate as the bill only provides general terms of the duties that the entities selected under those contracts would perform; it is reasonable to conclude that the DOE would have significant latitude in determining the specific parameters and costs of each contract.