A4727

An Act establishing a Social-Emotional Learning Program in the Department of Education, supplementing chapter 6 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes, and making an appropriation.

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

1. a. There is established in the Department of Education a Social-Emotional Learning Program. The purpose of the program shall be to provide a universal, school-based, social-emotional learning program to public school students in grades kindergarten through five to help enhance positive youth development and academic achievement. The program shall be implemented through two educational strategies. The first strategy shall teach students about processing, integrating, and selectively applying social and emotional skills. The second strategy shall involve fostering students’ social-emotional development by creating safe and caring learning environments using tiered supports that incorporate peer and family activities, improved classroom management and teaching practices, and whole-school community-building activities. The Child Connection Center in the Clayton Public School District shall be appointed to manage the administration and implementation of the program.

b. The Commissioner of Education shall select school districts to participate in the program. The commissioner shall select school districts from the northern area of the State, the central area of the State, and the southern area of the State, including the Clayton School District in Gloucester County. The commissioner shall identify schools for participation in the program in collaboration with the Child Connection Center.

c. The program shall consist of two cohorts of school districts that shall include a total of 103 schools. The commissioner shall initiate the program in three-year phases and provide for full implementation by no later than the third year of the program. The first cohort shall be determined by the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year, and the second cohort shall be determined by the beginning of the 2027-2028 school year. The Clayton School District shall serve as the model site for the southern area of the State. A school district located in another area of the State that wishes to become a model site for the area in which the district is located shall submit an application to the commissioner in a manner and form to be determined by the commissioner. As a condition of acceptance as a model site, the Clayton School District and the other school districts chosen as model sites shall enter into an agreement with the Department of Education to remain a model site for a period of four years.

d. Model sites shall support the accurate communication of the model to administrators and teachers in schools participating in the program and design and conduct the training for area-level social-emotional learning coordinators. The Child Connection Center shall be responsible for the management of the social-emotional learning programming under the program, and shall hire social-emotional learning coordinators at the area level who will train and organize the placement of social-emotional learning specialists, including social workers, behavioral health care providers, or other social-emotional learning professionals, to provide social-emotional learning supports at the school level under the program.

2. a. The commissioner shall annually provide a report by July 1st of each year to the State Board of Education, the Governor, and the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1). The annual report shall include the costs of the program in the immediately preceding school year, the total costs of the program to date, the number and names of the school districts and schools participating in the program, the number of students served under the program, and any additional other information that the commissioner deems appropriate.

b. The annual report provided pursuant to this section for the fourth year of implementation of the program shall include an evaluation of the program and a recommendation on the advisability of its continuation or expansion to all school districts in the State.

3. a. For the first three years of implementation of the program, the State shall annually appropriate funds such that a participating school district’s social-emotional learning program is supported by the State according to the following schedule:

(1) 50 percent of program costs in the first year of implementation;

(2) 35 percent of program costs in the second year of implementation; and

(3) 25 percent of program costs in the third year of implementation.

b. The Department of Education shall reevaluate the percentage of State support for school district program costs following the fourth year of implementation.

4. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Education the sum of $2,000,000 to effectuate the provisions of this act.

5. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill establishes a Social-Emotional Learning program in the Department of Education. The purpose of the program is to provide a universal, school-based, social-emotional learning program to public school students in grades kindergarten through five to help enhance positive youth development and academic achievement.

The program would be implemented through two educational strategies. The first strategy teaches students about processing, integrating, and selectively applying social and emotional skills. The second strategy involves fostering students’ social-emotional development by creating safe and caring learning environments using tiered supports that incorporate peer and family activities, improved classroom management and teaching practices, and whole-school community-building activities. The bill provides that the Child Connection Center in the Clayton School District would be appointed to manage the administration and implementation of the program.

Under the bill, the Commissioner of Education would select school districts to participate in the program. The commissioner is required to select school districts from the northern area of the State, the central area of the State, and the southern area of the State, including the Clayton School District in Gloucester County. The bill provides that the commissioner is required to identify schools for participation in the program in collaboration with the Child Connection Center.

The bill provides that the program would consist of two cohorts of school districts that would include a total of 103 schools. The commissioner would initiate the program in three-year phases and provide for full implementation by no later than the third year of the program. The first cohort would be determined by the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year, and the second cohort would be determined by the beginning of the 2027-2028 school year. The bill requires that the schools be identified in collaboration with the Child Connection Center in Clayton.

Under the bill, the Clayton School District would serve as the model site for the southern area of the State. A school district located in another area of the State that wishes to become a model site for the area in which the district is located would submit an application to the Commissioner of Education. As a condition of acceptance as a model site, the Clayton School District and the other school districts chosen as model sites would be required to enter into an agreement with the Department of Education to remain a model site for a period of four years.

The bill provides that model sites would support the accurate communication of the model to administrators and teachers in schools participating in the program and design and conduct the training for area-level social-emotional learning coordinators. The Child Connection Center would be responsible for the management of the social-emotional learning programming under the program, and would hire social-emotional learning coordinators at the area level who will train and organize the placement of social-emotional learning specialists, including social workers, behavioral health care providers, or other social-emotional learning professionals, to provide social-emotional learning supports at the school level under the program.

The bill requires the commissioner to provide annual reports by July 1st of each year of the program to the State Board of Education, the Governor, and the Legislature. The report is required to include the costs of the program in the immediately preceding school year, total program costs to date, the number and names of the school districts and schools participating in the program, the number of students served under the program, and any other information that the commissioner deems appropriate. The report would also include an evaluation of the program and a recommendation on the advisability of its continuation or expansion to all school districts in the State.

Finally, the bill appropriates $2 million to the Department of Education for the program and includes provisions laying out certain parameters for State funding of the program in the first three years of implementation.