California Senate Bill SB403 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: SB 403AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 7, 2015 INTRODUCED BY Senator Liu FEBRUARY 25, 2015 An act to  amend Section 1980 of, to  add Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 53310) to Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of, and to repeal Section  53320   53322  of, the Education Code, relating to  California  community schools. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 403, as amended, Liu. California Community Schools Act. Existing law  authorizes a county board of education to establish and maintain one or more county community schools, and authorizes a county board of education to enroll certain pupils in county community schools, including, but not limited to, a pupil who has been expelled, as specified.   authorizes school districts and community college districts, and schools and colleges within those districts, to enter into cooperative or contractual arrangements with business, industry, or elements within the community for improvement of the local educational program.  This bill would establish the California Community Schools Act, which would authorize a local educational agency or school and one or more community partners, as defined, to form a community consortium to establish a  California  community  school with an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development, and parent and community engagement, as specified.   school, as defined.  The bill would require the State Department of Education, subject to appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or the availability of funds from private sources, to make  community school  grants available to qualified recipients to fund  California  community schools and to enhance programs at  California  community schools. The bill would establish qualification requirements for grant applicants, and would require grant recipients to comply with specified requirements, including, among others, conducting periodic evaluations. The bill would require the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence and the department to provide technical  assistance to local educational agencies,   assistance,  as specified. The bill would require the department, on or before November 1, 2019, to report specified information relating to the formation and operation of  California  community schools to the education policy committees of the Legislature.  The bill would also make a conforming change to provisions relating to county community schools.  Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) All children are capable of success. (b) Schools are the centers of vibrant communities. (c) Strong families build strong educational communities. (d) Children succeed when adults work together to foster positive educational outcomes. (e) Schools work best when families take active roles in the education of children. Children are more successful in school when families and teachers are supported to work as partners. (f) Hunger, homelessness, health issues, and a lack of access to intervention and enrichment activities inhibit learning. Schools are limited in their ability to dedicate time and resources to provide a wide range of opportunities and supports to ameliorate the impacts of child poverty, creating an opportunity gap that inhibits children from succeeding in school. (g) A community school is a traditional school that actively partners with its community to leverage existing resources and identify new resources to support the transformation of the school to provide enrichment, social services, and additional life skill opportunities for pupils, parents, and community members at large. Each community school is unique because its programming is designed by and for the school staff, in partnership with parents, community stakeholders, and pupils in response to the needs of the local community. (h) Using schools as hubs, community school strategies foster intentional collaboration and alignment among school districts; state, county and city government; and postsecondary education, community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, and business. By providing in-school supports, enrichment, and extended learning opportunities outside of normal school hours pupils are more successful academically, more engaged in their communities, safer, and better prepared to make a successful transition to adulthood. (i) The community schools approach is based on a whole child approach and youth development principles to improve pupil engagement and build a positive nurturing school climate. Research shows that community schools have a powerful positive impact on pupils, as demonstrated by increased academic success, increased attendance, improved pupil engagement, decreases in grade retention and dropout, and decreased behavioral problems with a resulting improvement of school climate. (j) The integrated pupil support model of a community school embraces a whole child perspective that recognizes the importance of a child's health and safety, socioemotional development, behavior, and relationships to his or her educational success. The study recognizes that educational success is affected by multiple contexts, in and out of school. Research clearly indicates that the likelihood of academic success, especially for disadvantaged pupils, is enhanced by a more comprehensive set of supports and opportunities. (k) The local control funding formula calls for a level educational playing field for high need pupils, which is a key focus of community schools. Local control and accountability plans take a holistic view of pupil outcomes, as do community schools. In addition to pupil achievement, new state priorities and local control and accountability plans add involvement of parents and the community in decisionmaking, and prioritize pupil engagement, school climate, college and career preparation, and other key areas that are highly aligned with community school strategies. (l) Successful community schools currently exist in California and throughout the nation, and should be models for replication. California schools have benefited from the federal Full-Service Community Schools Program, the federal Promise  Neighborhood Initiative,   Neighborhoods program, and from the national community schools movement that has been recognized by the National League of Cities and the National School Boards Association. These programs recognize that community schools are a fundamental equity strategy to address disparities. (m) Community schools are cost effective because they leverage existing resources provided by local, regional, state, federal, nonprofit, and private sources and align and connect programs to the schools, where the pupils are already congregated and where parents and the broader community can be engaged.  SEC. 2.   Section 1980 of the   Education Code   is amended to read:  1980.  (a)    A county board of education may establish and maintain one or more community schools.  (b) A county community school shall not be designated as a California community school unless the requirements specified in the California Community Schools Act (Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 53310) of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2) are satisfied.   SEC. 2.   SEC. 3.  Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 53310) is added to Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read: CHAPTER 19. CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY SCHOOLS Article 1. Definitions 53310. This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Community Schools Act. 53311. As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply: (a) "Community consortium" means a partnership established between a school or a local educational agency and one or more community partners for purposes of  establishing, operating, and sustaining   establishing and operating  a community school. (b) "Community partner" means a provider of one or more community services or a community organization nonprofit or business entity with a mission and record of improving conditions in the community.  (c) "Community school" means a public and private partnership to coordinate educational, developmental, and family engagement and support, before school and after school programs, and health services during school and nonschool hours for pupils, families, and local communities at a public school with the objectives of reducing absenteeism, increasing pupil engagement and connectedness, improving academic achievement, building stronger relationships between schools, pupils, parents, and communities, and improving the skills, capacity, and well-being of the pupils, families, and surrounding community residents.   (c) "California community school" or "community school" means a public school engaged in cross-agency partnerships with one or more community partners for the delivery of community services to pupils, families, and community members.  (d) "Community services" includes all of the following: (1) Primary medical and dental care that is available to pupils and when possible community residents. (2) Mental health prevention and treatment services that  is   are  available to pupils and, when possible, community residents. (3) Academic enrichment activities designed to promote a pupil's cognitive development and provide opportunities to practice and apply academic skills. (4) Programs designed to increase school attendance, including reducing truancy and early chronic absenteeism rates. (5) Youth development programs designed to promote young people's social, emotional, physical, and moral development, including arts, sports, physical fitness, youth leadership, community service, and service learning opportunities. (6) Early childhood education, including prekindergarten, Head Start, and Early Head Start programs. (7) Programs designed to do all of the following: (A) Facilitate parental involvement in, and engagement with, their children's education, including parental activities that involve supporting, monitoring, and advocating for their children's education. (B) Promote parental leadership in  the life of  the school and community. (C) Build parenting skills. (8) Expanded learning opportunities for all pupils, including before and after school enrichment programs, workplace learning opportunities, and postsecondary partnerships. (9) Schoolage child care services, including before school and after school services and full day programming that operates during school holidays, summers, vacations, and weekends. (10) Supports to meet fundamental material needs of homeless and disadvantaged pupils. (11) Youth and adult job training services and career counseling services. (12) Programs that provide assistance to pupils who have been truant, suspended, or expelled and that offer multiple pathways to high school graduation, a General Education Development (GED), or other alternatives to high school completion. (13) Adult education, including instruction in English as a second language, adult literacy, computer literacy, financial literacy, and skills training.  (e) "Local educational agency" means a school district, county office of education, or charter school.  Article 2. General Provisions 53312. (a) Local educational agencies and schools are authorized and encouraged to form community consortiums with  a variety of  community partners to establish  a   California  community  school or schools with an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development, and parent and community engagement that will lead to improved pupil learning, stronger families, and healthier communities.   schools.  (b)  The   A California  community  schools, formed pursuant to this chapter,   school  shall strive to become  centers   the center  of  their communities   the community  by providing programs and services for persons of all ages, serving pupils, parents, and community members throughout the day, including evenings, weekends, and summer.   members.  53313. The state board and the department shall support and encourage local educational agencies in the creation of  California  community schools. All policies, guidelines, and rules and regulations adopted by the state board pursuant to this chapter shall actively foster the formation, development, and operation of  California  community schools. 53314. The department may seek funds from nonprofit and private donors and grants to fund local educational agencies' efforts to create and support  California  community schools. 53315. The department and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence shall  assist local educational agencies by providing   provide  technical assistance directly or through referral to third-party technical service providers.  A   The department shall establish and maintain a  resource and referral directory  shall be established and maintained by the department  when funds become available, either through state appropriations or other funding and support. 53316. Subject to  the  appropriation  of funds  in the annual Budget Act or the availability of funding from private sources for  the  creation and support of  California  community schools, the department shall make  community school  grants available to fund  California  community schools and to enhance programs at  California  community schools. 53317. A request for proposal process shall be used in awarding grants under this chapter.  Proposals   A proposal  may be submitted  on behalf of   by  a school, a local educational agency, or a  consortium of two or more schools or local educational agencies. Proposals   community consortium. The proposal  shall be evaluated and scored  on the basis of   using  criteria  adopted by the state board that is  consistent with this  chapter and other factors developed and adopted by the state board.   chapter.   53318. A community consortium shall develop a plan for aligning community services that may include, but is not limited to, the following: (a) Assessing the needs of pupils, families, schools, and the local community. (b) Mapping resources in the school and community to identify potential community partners to provide services that fill identified needs and resource gaps. (c) Developing a plan to establish a community school infrastructure, including, but not limited to, establishing the following: (1) A committee of elected officials and local leaders to focus on policy decisions. (2) An executive team tasked with overall operations. (3) A school team for day-to-day service delivery, referrals, and coordination. (4) Developing systems for coordination, collective decisionmaking, resources sharing, and sustainability. (5) Examining opportunities to achieve economies of scale and eliminate duplication of efforts among the consortium members. (6) Developing a plan for cross-agency collaboration by implementing memoranda of understanding between community partners. (7) Evidence that community partners will commit time and resources to establishing relationships and creating systems for sharing resources and making decisions based on ongoing needs assessments and program quality data. (8) Establishing school governance teams that are representative of the school community. (9) Commitments from community partners to implement a data collection system based on shared outcome goals that includes community input to ensure improvement of service delivery and coordinated community services delivery. (10) Use of a community schoolsite coordinator to facilitate partnership coordination, ensure equitable access to high-quality support services, and engage members from all constituent groups.   53318. In order to   53319.   To  qualify for a grant under this chapter,  a school or local educational agency shall have,   an applicant shall,  at a minimum,  the following components or   have a  plan to develop the following components as a part of the grant  proposal in order to sustain a system for alignment of school and community resources with the needs of pupils and families:  proposal:  (a) A local advisory group comprised of school leadership, parents, and community stakeholders that establishes school  specific  programming goals, assesses program needs, and oversees the process of implementing expanded programming. (b) A  program director or resource   community schoolsite  coordinator who is responsible for establishing the local advisory group, assessing the needs of pupils and community members, identifying programs to meet those needs, coordinating partnerships and services with community partners, developing the before and after school, weekend, and summer programming, and overseeing the implementation of programming to ensure high quality and robust participation. (c) A collaborative governance structure for the effective  braiding   integration  of school and community resources and family and community engagement. (d) Expanded learning opportunities for all pupils, such as before and after school enrichment programs, workplace learning opportunities, and postsecondary partnerships. (e) Access to onsite, coordinated  support   community  services for pupils and families, such as physical and mental health services through school-based health centers or programs, social services, and youth, family, and community engagement and development designed to holistically address the mental, emotional, and physical health of pupils and to support the acceleration of academic achievement.  (f) Maintenance of attendance records in all programming components.   (g) Maintenance of measurable data showing annual participation and the impact of programming on the participating children and adults.   (h)   (f)  Documentation of  true  collaboration between the school and community stakeholders, including local  governmental units,   government,  civic organizations, families, businesses, and social service providers.  (i)   (g)  A nondiscrimination policy ensuring that the community school does not condition participation upon race, ethnic origin, religion, sex, or disability.  53319.   53320.  A grant recipient under this chapter shall do all of the following: (a) Conduct periodic evaluations of the progress achieved with funds allocated under a grant, consistent with the purposes of this chapter. (b) Use the evaluations to refine and improve activities conducted with the grant and the performance measures for the activities. (c) Make the results of the evaluations publicly available, including providing public notice of the availability. (d) Identify best practices  and lessons learned for the purpose of helping other   to help  local educational agencies and schools in the formation of  California  community schools and to revise the community school policies of the state board and the department.  (e) Maintain attendance records in all programming components.   (f) Maintain data on annual participation.   53321. Nothing in this chapter limits a county community school formed pursuant to Section 1980 from also being designated as a California community school, subject to compliance with this chapter.   53320.   53322.  (a) The department shall study and report on the formation and operation of  California  community schools, including, but not limited to, all of the following: (1) Best practices that can be replicated by other local educational agencies and schools desiring to form community schools. (2) Whether  California  community schools have improved pupil learning, family and community engagement, school effectiveness in decreasing truancy and the dropout rate, and physical and mental health of the pupils and other members of the community. (3) Whether  California  community schools have met their educational and community goals. (b) The department shall report its findings and recommendations to the education policy committees of the Legislature on or before November 1, 2019. (c) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section is repealed on November 1, 2020.