Bill Text: NJ A3311 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes program in DOE to support school districts in developing grow-your-own programs for hiring of teachers of students with disabilities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee [A3311 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A3311-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes program in DOE to support school districts in developing grow-your-own programs for hiring of teachers of students with disabilities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning support for grow-your-own programs for the hiring of teachers of students with disabilities and supplementing chapter 6 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Department of Education shall establish a program to encourage and assist school districts in developing grow-your-own teacher programs for the hiring of teachers of students with disabilities. Under a school district's grow-your-own teacher program, the district shall make a good faith effort to hire, and to providing training and mentoring opportunities to, individuals, who are currently employed in the school district and are not certified as teaching staff members, as teachers of students with disabilities. The department shall provide financial and other support deemed appropriate by the department to school districts that are selected for such support pursuant to subsection c. of this section.
b. To be eligible for financial and other support from the department pursuant to this section, a school district shall submit an application to the department in a manner and form to be prescribed by the department. An application submitted by a school district shall:
(1) provide an overview of the district's grow-your-own program, including anticipated levels of participation in the program and how the district plans to identify and recruit current employees, who are not certified as teaching staff members, to become teachers of students with disabilities;
(2) detail the school district's need for hiring additional teachers of students with disabilities and the extent of any shortage of teachers of students with disabilities in the district's teacher workforce;
(3) include documented evidence, or otherwise provide a commitment, that the school district will dedicate funds toward aiding participating employees in the grow-your-own program with any costs associated with becoming certified as a teacher of students with disabilities, including the tuition and fee costs of programs of study and educator preparation programs in which the participating employees are enrolled;
(4) include descriptions of the training and mentoring opportunities that the district will provide to participating employees including, but not limited to, the assignment of individual mentors to participating employees and other opportunities for one-on-one coaching and guidance from school administrators and teaching staff members of the district;
(5) detail flexibilities the district will provide to participating employees as they complete the necessary education to become certified as teachers of students with disabilities;
(6) delineate how the school district plans to utilize any grant funds that would be allocated to it and how those funds would supplement any funds dedicated by the district;
(7) describe efforts the district will initiate to make good faith efforts to hire and retain participating employees who become teachers of students with disabilities under the grow-your-own program;
(8) outline plans to provide ongoing mentoring and support as a participating employee begins working as a teacher of students with disabilities; and
(9) include such other details as the department deems necessary to make a determination concerning a school district's selection for financial and other support pursuant to this section.
c. Support provided under the program established pursuant to this section shall be allocated to school districts in a manner to be determined by the department, except that the department shall, to the greatest extent possible, prioritize school districts that demonstrate the greatest shortage of teachers of students with disabilities and approve applications from at least one school district in each the northern, central, and southern regions of the State and seek a cross-section of school districts from urban, suburban, and rural areas of the State.
d. Nothing in this section shall be construed to alter any requirements under State law or State Board of Education regulations pertaining to the certification of teachers of students with disabilities.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a program in the Department of Education (DOE) to encourage and assist school districts in developing grow-your-own teacher programs for the hiring of teachers of students with disabilities. Under a school district's grow-your-own teacher program, the district would make a good faith effort to hire, and to providing training and mentoring opportunities to, individuals, who are currently employed in the school district and are not certified as teaching staff members, as teachers of students with disabilities. Under the bill, the DOE will provide financial and other support deemed appropriate by the department to school districts that are selected for participation.
To be eligible for financial and other support from the department, a school district would submit an application to the DOE. An application would, at a minimum: provide an overview of the district's grow-your-own program; detail the school district's need for hiring additional teachers of students with disabilities and the extent of any shortage of teachers of students with disabilities in the district's teacher workforce; include documented evidence, or otherwise provide a commitment, that the school district will dedicate funds toward aiding participating employees in the grow-your-own program with any costs associated with becoming certified as a teacher of students with disabilities; include descriptions of the training and mentoring opportunities that the district will provide to participating employees; detail flexibilities the district will provide to participating employees as they complete the necessary education to become certified as teachers of students with disabilities; delineate how the school district plans to utilize any grant funds that would be allocated to it and how those funds would supplement any funds dedicated by the district; describe efforts the district will initiate to make good faith efforts to hire and retain participating employees who become teachers of students with disabilities under the grow-your-own program; and outline plans to provide ongoing mentoring and support as a participating employee begins working as a teacher of students with disabilities.
Support provided under the program established pursuant to this bill would be allocated to school districts in a manner to be determined by the DOE, except the DOE will, to the greatest extent possible, prioritize school districts that demonstrate the greatest shortage of teachers of students with disabilities and approve applications from at least one school district in each the northern, central, and southern regions of the State and seek a cross-section of school districts from urban, suburban, and rural areas of the State.
