A. A school district shall bear any indirect costs associated with the establishment and implementation of a community school within the school district.

B. Subject to the availability of funding, grants for community schools initiatives are available to a school district, a group of public schools or a single public school that has demonstrated partnerships with the local community to establish, operate and sustain the community school framework and that meets department eligibility requirements.

C. The department shall promulgate rules and procedures to distribute funds through a competitive grant program developed and designed in partnership with the coalition for community schools.

D. Applications for grants for community schools initiatives shall be in the form prescribed by the department to support a continuum of community school development.

E. A school district, a group of public schools or a single public school that uses funds under this section to transform a public school into an evidence-based community schools initiative shall:

(1) use rigorous, transparent, equitable and evidence-based evaluation systems to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the community schools initiative;

(2) provide ongoing, high-quality professional development that:

(a) aligns with the community school's instructional program;

(b) facilitates effective teaching and learning; and

(c) supports the implementation of school reform strategies; and

(3) give the community school sufficient operational flexibility in programming, curriculum, staffing, budgeting and scheduling so that the community school can fully implement a comprehensive community school framework designed to focus on improving the community school climate, student academic achievement, attendance, behavior, family engagement and, for high schools, graduation rates and readiness for college or a career.

F. If a grantee receives funding to implement the community schools initiative at three or more public school sites, the school district shall employ a community schools director or manager to oversee and coordinate implementation across all of the covered school sites and ensure the employment of a community school coordinator by the lead partner agency at each school site.

G. A school district or public school may use Title 1 funds for its community schools initiative and the department may use Title 1 funds to invest in community schools statewide.

H. The department is authorized to provide planning, implementation and renewal grants to eligible applicants as follows:

(1) a one-year, one-time planning grant of up to fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for each eligible public school to conduct an initial school and community needs assessment, identify community supports and services through asset mapping and establish a site-based leadership team; and

(2) annual implementation grants of one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) each year for a period of three years for each eligible school; and

(3) at the conclusion of the initial three-year grant period, applicants may apply for a renewal grant for one year in an amount determined by the department.

I. Eligible applicants shall provide satisfactory documentation required by the department that the applicant intends to apply for an implementation grant within six months of receiving a planning grant.

J. Eligible applicants shall submit an application for an implementation or renewal grant to the department for each eligible community school through the grant authorization process.

History: Laws 2013, ch. 16, § 4; 2017, ch. 66, § 3; 2019, ch. 198, § 5.

The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, required the public education department to promulgate rules and procedures to distribute funds through a competitive grant program, and revised the community school application requirements; in the section heading, deleted "administrative" and added "indirect"; in Subsection A, after "bear any", deleted "administrative" and added "indirect"; in Subsection B, after "public schools or a", added "single", after "partnerships with", deleted "any lead agency and local, private and public agencies for the purpose of establishing, operating and sustaining" and added "the local community to establish, operate and sustain the", and after the next occurrence of "community", deleted "schools" and added "school framework"; added a new Subsection C and redesignated former Subsections C and D as Subsections D and E, respectively; in Subsection D, after "prescribed by the department", deleted "and shall include the following information" and added "to support a continuum of community school development", and deleted Paragraphs (1) through (10); in Subsection E, after "schools or a", added "single", after "transform a", added "public", and after "school into", deleted "research and" and added "an", in Paragraph E(2), after "development", deleted "to staff", in Subparagraph E(2)(a), after "aligns with the", added "community", in Paragraph E(3), added "community" preceding each occurrence of "school", and after "comprehensive", deleted "strategy" and added "community school framework"; and added Subsections F through J.

The 2017 amendment, effective June 16, 2017, required a school district, a group of public schools or a public school that uses funds under the Community Schools Act to use an evidence-based evaluation system to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the community schools initiative; and in Subsection D, Paragraph D(1), after "transparent", deleted "and", and after "equitable", added "and evidence-based".