BILL NUMBER: SB 403 AMENDED
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.