Establishes five-year community schools pilot program.
Assembly Bill 4760 establishes a five-year Community Schools Pilot Program within the Department of Education. The program is designed to help selected public schools, renaissance schools, and charter schools develop or expand into community schools that coordinate educational, developmental, family, health, and other wraparound services through partnerships with community organizations and public/private entities. The bill defines community schools broadly and centers the program on four pillars: integrated student supports, expanded learning time and opportunities, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership and practice.
Under the bill, the Commissioner of Education must select and contract with an in-state institution of higher education or qualified nonprofit organization to manage the pilot. That entity must provide training and technical assistance, establish a technical assistance center, and employ and train site coordinators who will be assigned to one school in each county to help coordinate services and outreach. The Department of Education, working with the manager and the New Jersey Community Schools Coalition, must also develop selection criteria for participating schools and post those criteria publicly. The bill further requires annual audits of the managing entity and an independent evaluation of the pilot, with a final report due after the program ends.
The bill would add a new pilot program to Title 18A and create a dedicated, nonlapsing Community Schools Pilot Program Fund in the Department of Education. It would authorize state appropriations, investment earnings, and private contributions to support implementation, and it would require the department to contract with outside entities for program management and evaluation. Participating schools would be required to enter into agreements defining the role and authority of site coordinators, and the selected managing organization would bear responsibility for coordinator compensation. The bill would affect school districts, renaissance schools, charter schools, and nonprofit/higher-education partners involved in service coordination and school-based supports.
No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no documented debate or vote history to gauge formal legislative sentiment. Based on the bill text and sponsor statement, the measure appears to be framed positively as a school-support and student-services initiative, with an emphasis on technical assistance, accountability, and evaluation. The overall tone of the proposal suggests support for expanding community school models and improving coordination of services for students and families.
The bill text itself does not identify explicit opposition, but several design choices could be points of discussion. These include the use of a state-selected nonprofit or higher-education manager, the requirement that site coordinators be employees of that outside entity rather than the schools, and the reliance on a mix of state, private, and investment funding. Another possible area of contention is the selection process for participating schools, since only one school in each county would receive direct site-coordinator support during the pilot, which may raise questions about fairness, scope, and scalability. Accountability provisions such as annual audits and an independent evaluation appear intended to address these concerns.