Amendment #389 to H5500

Community Schools Program

Mr. Reid of Lynn moves to amend the bill, in section 2, by inserting after item 1596-2451 the following item:

“xxxx-xxxx For a community schools program to be administered by the department of elementary and secondary education; provided, that said program shall provide grants to eligible entities  to implement the community schools strategy in order to reduce chronic absenteeism, strengthen family engagement, and improve student outcomes, establish a statewide professional learning community to support evidence-based community school practices, and create a publicly accessible dashboard to track key outcomes; provided, for purposes of this item, “community schools” shall be defined as a school that participates in a community-based effort to coordinate and integrate educational, developmental, family, health, and other comprehensive services; provided further, that not less than $2,800,000 shall be used for grants for the establishment and expansion of the community schools strategy; provided further, that in order to be awarded such grants an entity must (i) be a public school or public school district or community-based organization with a memorandum of understanding with a public school or public school district and  (ii) already have or commit to hire a full-time community school coordinator to oversee implementation of the strategy; provided further, grantees shall (i) develop or strengthen shared leadership structures to elevate diverse stakeholder voices in decision-making (ii)  conduct a comprehensive assets and needs assessment to identify and address student and family needs and priorities in areas such as basic needs of students which may include but shall not be limited to housing, clothing, physical health, mental health, or food, academics, student and family services, and extracurricular programming among others; and (iii) utilize grant funds for activities that supplement and do not supplant existing local, state, or federally funded activities; provided further, the distribution of grants shall prioritize  applicants that: (i) demonstrate a strong commitment and ability utilize local funds to sustain activities beyond the community schools program grant cycle; (ii) demonstrate a strong commitment to the community schools strategy and to collaborative  leadership with families and community-based organizations ,  (iii) are geographically representative of high-needs districts across the state; and (iv)  demonstrate an alignment of the community schools strategy with the district’s strategic priorities; and provided further, that eligible expenses shall include but not be limited to (i) an assets and needs assessment; (ii) student and family engagement activities; (iii) direct services for students to address identified academic and non-academic needs; (iv) data collection and evaluation; (iv) one-time infrastructure or equipment to help address identified academic and non-academic needs; (v) professional development and training related to the community schools strategy; and (vi) salary and benefits for a community school coordinator; provided further, that not less than $100,000 shall be used to establish, in consultation with the Massachusetts Community Schools Coalition,  a statewide community schools practitioners professional learning network to share best practices among grantees and non-grantees for the purpose of resource, strategy, and framework alignment; provided further, that not less than $100,000 shall be used by the department of elementary and secondary education to establish and maintain a publicly accessible online dashboard , which shall provide information on student outcomes of grantees including but not limited to chronic absenteeism, student academic outcomes, family engagement,  and students’ sense of belonging; the department of elementary and secondary education shall publish said dashboard no later than November 1, 2027; and provided further, that any unexpended funds in this item shall not revert but shall be made available until August 30, 2028.............................................$3,000,000

Education and Transportation Fund ........................ 100%”