Community school start-up grants and making an appropriation. (FE)

What it would have done

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

This bill requires the Department of Public Instruction to create a community school start-up grant program, under which DPI awards competitive grants to school boards to plan and implement community schools. The bill defines a “community school” as a public school that focuses on improving student learning, strengthening families, developing healthier communities, working with community partners to provide additional services to the surrounding community, and providing wrap-around support services to pupils and their families but does not include independent charter schools or charter schools that are not an instrumentality of a school district.

The bill requires that under the community school start-up grant program DPI must allocate portions of the program funding to establishing community schools in rural school districts, to establishing community schools in high-poverty school districts, and to transforming low-performing schools into community schools. The bill also requires an applicant for a community school start-up grant to demonstrate that it has secured matching funds for the grant and to identify a school resource coordinator who will coordinate school programming. An applicant for a community school start-up grant must also describe the types of programming the school will provide to improve student learning, strengthen families, and develop a healthier community. A community school start-up grant is for five years and may be renewed for additional five-year terms.

Who's behind it

3 senators are its authors⁠. All 3 are Democrats.

15 more lawmakers signed on in support⁠.

What it would cost

State agencies filed a cost estimate. Each opens as a PDF from the Legislature.

• Fiscal Estimate From DPI