Bill Text: NJ S2499 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes five-year conception to cradle pilot program in DOE.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-05 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee [S2499 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S2499-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes five-year conception to cradle pilot program in DOE.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act establishing a conception to cradle pilot program and supplementing Title 18A of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. A child's brain develops faster from birth to age three than at any later period in life, forming more than one million new neural connections every second.
b. When babies have nurturing relationships, early learning experiences, and good health and nutrition, these neural connections are stimulated and strengthened, laying a strong foundation for success in school and the workforce.
c. Unfortunately, too many babies are not getting what they need, forming shaky foundations from which to grow. According to data from ZERO TO THREE's State of Babies Yearbook: 2019, nearly half of America's babies live in or near poverty, and many young children face a range of risk factors that can impede positive development.
d. Research shows that at age two, toddlers from low-income families are already six months behind in their language processing skills.
e. Gaps in education outcomes start before entry to K-12 education and even before pre-kindergarten. However, most of the investments in early childhood start at ages four and older. By that time, the most crucial years of early brain development have passed. Without greater investment in the first three years, many children will miss the opportunity to reach their full potential.
f. The State of New Jersey has the widest gap in the nation between its better and lesser performing schools.
g. African-American women in New Jersey are nearly seven times more likely than a white woman to die from pregnancy-related complications, more than double the nationwide rate, and a African-American baby is three times more likely than a white baby to die before his or her first birthday.
h. Creating policies and making investments in high-quality early learning programs and child care services, supports and resources for parents, access to preventive health care and nutrition programs, improvements in the health and birth outcomes for women of color, and interventions for developmental delays and mental health issues gets babies off to the healthy start they need to thrive.
i. It is in the public interest of the State to advance programs and policies that promote healthy development for infants and toddlers, and the establishment of a conception to cradle program that will provide an integrated focus on early childhood development, health, and social services in order to prioritize the needs of infants, toddlers, and their families and build a Statewide foundation for the future education, health, and life success of New Jersey's children.
2. As used in this act:
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Education.
"Department" means the Department of Education.
3. a. The Commissioner of Education shall establish a five-year "Conception to Cradle Pilot Program" in the Department of Education. The objective of the pilot program shall be to facilitate partnerships between public schools, community-based nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, health and social services providers, public and private universities, and State and local governmental agencies to:
(1) provide an integrated focus on early childhood development, health and social services, educational counseling, and community development;
(2) offer prenatal and pediatric health and nutritional care to infants and toddlers from birth to age three; and
(3) actively engage families and foster collaborative practices based on an individual community's identified need.
Under the pilot program, 50 public school with the worst student performance shall be selected to receive training in providing community school services to infants and toddlers from birth to age three, and shall be assigned a site coordinator who shall assist in the provision of such services.
b. No later than three months following the effective date of this act, the commissioner shall issue a request for proposals to identify a qualified nonprofit organization, located in the State whose mission is to facilitate the provision of high quality community school services in New Jersey, to manage the pilot program. Upon selecting an organization to manage the pilot program, the commissioner shall enter into a contract with that organization specifying its duties and responsibilities including, but not limited to, those identified in section 4 of this act.
c. No later than six months following the effective date of this act, the commissioner shall survey every school district in the State to assess the extent to which public schools in the school district can provide community school services to infants and toddlers from birth to age three. The survey shall obtain information including, but not limited to:
(1) identifying public schools with the worst student performance in the school district that have an interest in providing community school services;
(2) listing the entities with which a school can enter into a partnership for the provision of services; and
(3) detailing services that are to be provided through the community school services program.
The commissioner shall use the results of the survey conducted pursuant to subsection c. of this section to select the 50 public schools that shall participate in the pilot program.
4. a. The organization selected by the commissioner to manage the pilot program shall make technical assistance available to the public schools participating in the pilot program.
b. (1) The organization, in coordination with the department, shall develop an application procedure and specific criteria for selecting the 50 public schools that will participate in the pilot program and receive direct support from a site coordinator assigned to the school. The selection criteria shall be posted on the department's website at least 20 days prior to the application period. The public schools shall be selected to participate in the pilot program by the department and the organization collaboratively.
(2) In selecting the 50 public schools to participate in the pilot program, priority shall be given to a public school that:
(i) has the worst student performance in its school district as determined by standard assessment measures; and
(ii) serves low-income and under-resourced communities.
c. The organization shall employ and train individuals who shall be assigned to serve as a site coordinator in a public school that has been selected to participate in the pilot program. Individuals selected to serve as site coordinators shall be employees of the organization, and not the school to which they are assigned.
d. The organization may enter into an agreement with another nonprofit entity to assist it in fulfilling any of the responsibilities enumerated in subsections a. through c. of this section.
5. a. The commissioner shall annually enter into a contract with an independent entity to perform an audit of the organization's accounts and financial transactions. The audit of the prior year's activities shall be completed no later than five months following the end of the organization's fiscal year. The audit shall be made available on the department's website.
b. The commissioner shall enter into a contract with an independent entity to conduct an evaluation of the pilot program. The entity shall have expertise in evaluating community school services programs and the provision of a range of social services. The evaluator shall issue a final report on the implementation of the pilot program no later than six months prior to the pilot program's completion. The commissioner shall forward the final report to the Governor, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1).
6. There is established in the Department of Education a nonlapsing fund that shall be known as the Conception to Cradle Pilot Program Fund. The fund shall consist of any funds that are appropriated by the Legislature for inclusion in the fund, investment earnings of the fund, and moneys contributed to the fund by private sources. The moneys in the fund shall be invested and reinvested by the Director of the Division of Investment in the Department of the Treasury. Expenditures from the fund shall be exclusively for the purpose of implementing the provisions of this act.
7. This act shall take effect immediately
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a five-year Conception to Cradle Pilot Program in the Department of Education (DOE). The objective of the pilot program is to facilitate partnerships between public schools, community-based nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, health and social services providers, public and private universities, and State and local governmental agencies to: (1) provide an integrated focus on early childhood development, health and social services, educational counseling, and community development; (2) offer prenatal and pediatric health and nutritional care to infants and toddlers from birth to age three; and (3) actively engage families and foster collaborative practices based on an individual community's identified need.
Under the pilot program, 50 public schools with the worst student performance are to be selected to receive training in providing community school services to infants and toddlers from birth to age three, and would be assigned a site coordinator to assist in the provision of services.
The bill stipulates that no later than six months following the bill's effective date, the Commissioner of Education (commissioner) is to survey every school district in the State to assess the extent to which public schools in the district can provide community school services to infants and toddlers from birth to age three. The survey is to: (1) identify public schools with the worst student performance in the district that have an interest in providing community school services; (2) list the entities with which a school can enter into a partnership for the provision of services; and (3) detail services that are to be provided through the community school services program.
Under the bill, the commissioner would issue a request for proposals to identify a nonprofit organization located in the State to manage the pilot program. The selected organization would be responsible for providing technical assistance to the public schools participating in the pilot program, and may enter into an agreement with another nonprofit entity to assist it in carrying out its responsibilities as outlined in the bill.
The organization, in coordination with the DOE, would develop an application procedure and specific criteria for selecting the 50 public schools to participate in the program and receive direct support from a site coordinator. The selection criteria would be posted on the DOE's website at least 20 days prior to the beginning of the application period.
In selecting the 50 public schools to participate in the pilot program, priority is to be given to a school that: has the worst student performance in its school district as determined by standard assessment measures; and serves low-income and under-resourced communities.
The organization would employ and train individuals who would be assigned to serve as a site coordinator in a public school selected to participate in the pilot program. Those selected to be site coordinators would be required to be employees of the organization, and not the school they are assigned.
The commissioner would annually enter into a contract with an independent entity to perform an audit of the organization's accounts and financial transactions. The audits, which must be completed no later than five months following the organization's fiscal year, would be posted on the DOE's website. The bill also requires that the commissioner enter into a contract with an independent entity to conduct an evaluation of the pilot program. The final report, which the commissioner would forward to the Governor and the Legislature, would be due no later than six months prior to the conclusion of the pilot program.
The bill also establishes in the DOE a nonlapsing fund known as the Conception to Cradle Pilot Program Fund. The fund is to consist of any funds that are appropriated by the Legislature for inclusion in the fund, investment earnings of the fund, and moneys contributed to the fund by private sources.
