Senate Bill No. 403

Introduced by Senator Liu

February 25, 2015

An act to add Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 53310) to Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of, and to repeal Section 53320 of, the Education Code, relating to community schools.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 403, as introduced, 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.

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 community school with an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development, and parent and community engagement, as specified. 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 community schools and to enhance programs at 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, 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 community schools to the education policy committees of the Legislature.

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, 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.  

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 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.

(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
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.

 

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 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.

(b) The community schools, formed pursuant to this chapter,
shall strive to become centers of their communities by providing
programs and services for persons of all ages, serving pupils,
parents, and community members throughout the day, including
evenings, weekends, and summer.

53313.  

The state board and the department shall support and
encourage local educational agencies in the creation of 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 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 community schools.

53315.  

The department and the California Collaborative for
Educational Excellence shall assist local educational agencies by
providing technical assistance directly or through referral to
third-party technical service providers. 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 appropriation in the annual Budget Act or
the availability of funding from private sources for creation and
support of community schools, the department shall make
community school grants available to fund community schools
and to enhance programs at community schools.

53317.  

A request for proposal process shall be used in awarding
grants under this chapter. Proposals may be submitted on behalf
of a school, a local educational agency, or a consortium of two or
more schools or local educational agencies. Proposals shall be
evaluated and scored on the basis of criteria consistent with this
chapter and other factors developed and adopted by the state board.

53318.  

In order to qualify for a grant under this chapter, a
school or local educational agency shall have, at a minimum, the
following components or 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:

(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 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 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 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) Documentation of true collaboration between the school and
community stakeholders, including local governmental units, civic
organizations, families, businesses, and social service providers.

(i) A nondiscrimination policy ensuring that the community
school does not condition participation upon race, ethnic origin,
religion, sex, or disability.

53319.  

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 local educational agencies and schools in the
formation of community schools and to revise the community
school policies of the state board and the department.

53320.  

(a) The department shall study and report on the
formation and operation of 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 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 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.