AB813: Bill Text

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

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 pupil learning, strengthening families, developing healthier communities, working with community partners to provide additional services to the surrounding community, and providing wraparound support services to pupils and their families. “Community school” 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 the applicant 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 pupil learning, strengthen families, and develop a healthier community. A community school start-up grant is for a five-year term and may be renewed for additional five-year periods.

The bill also requires a recipient of a community school start-up grant to provide an annual report to DPI.

The bill also provides additional funding for the University of Wisconsin System under its general program operations for purposes of maintaining compliance with maintenance of effort requirements of the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act and the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB813,1 Section 1 . 20.005 (3) (schedule) of the statutes: at the appropriate place, insert the following amounts for the purposes indicated: - See PDF for table

AB813,2 Section 2 . 20.255 (2) (cv) of the statutes is created to read:

AB813,2,5 20.255 (2) (cv) Community school start-up grants. The amounts in the schedule for grants under s. 115.393.

AB813,3 Section 3 . 115.393 of the statutes is created to read:

AB813,2,11 115.393 Community school start-up grants. (1) In this section, “community school" means a public school that is not a charter school established under s. 118.40 (2r) or (2x), that is not a charter school under contract with a school district that is not an instrumentality of the school district, and that focuses on all of the following:

AB813,3,2 (a) Improving pupil learning through an engaging, culturally relevant, and challenging curriculum and high-quality teaching.

AB813,3,5 (b) Strengthening families and developing healthier communities by integrating academics, health and social services, intergenerational programming, youth and community development, and community engagement.

AB813,3,7 (c) Working with community partners to provide additional support and opportunities to the community surrounding the public school.

AB813,3,10 (d) Providing wraparound support services to pupils and their families, including nonemergency medical, dental, nursing, and optometric services and individualized social, emotional, and behavioral services.

AB813,3,13 (2) The department shall develop and implement a program to provide grants for the purpose of planning and implementing community schools. When developing the grant program under this subsection, the department shall do all of the following:

AB813,3,15 (a) Allocate a portion of the amount appropriated under s. 20.255 (2) (cv) for planning and implementing community schools in rural school districts.

AB813,3,22 (b) Allocate a portion of the amount appropriated under s. 20.255 (2) (cv) for planning and implementing community schools in high-poverty school districts. For purposes of this paragraph, a “high-poverty school district" is a school district in which at least 50 percent of the school district's enrollment on the 3rd Friday of September in the immediately preceding even-numbered year, as rounded to the nearest whole percentage point, was eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch in the federal school lunch program under 42 USC 1758 (b).

AB813,4,3 (c) Allocate a portion of the amount appropriated under s. 20.255 (2) (cv) for transforming low-performing schools into community schools. For purposes of this paragraph, a “low-performing school" is a public school that was in the lowest 5 percent of all public schools in the state in the previous school year or that was placed in the lowest performance category in the most recent school and school district accountability report under s. 115.385.

AB813,4,4 (d) Establish a maximum grant award for each community school.

AB813,4,9 (e) Require an applicant for a grant to demonstrate that the applicant has secured matching funds equal to the amount of the grant. The applicant may provide the matching contribution in the form of money, in-kind goods or services, or both if the community school will be located in a school district that satisfies all of the following:

AB813,4,11 1. The school district's membership in the previous school year divided by the school district's area in square miles is less than 10.

AB813,4,13 2. The school district's membership in the previous school year was 1,000 or less.

AB813,4,14 (f) Require that an applicant for a grant identify a school resource coordinator.

AB813,4,17 (3) From the appropriation under s. 20.255 (2) (cv), the department shall award on a competitive basis one or more grants under the program developed under sub. (2) to school boards on behalf of individual schools located in the school district.

AB813,4,24 (4) A school board applying for a grant under sub. (3) on behalf of a school in a school district shall include in the school board's application a description of the programming the school will provide to improve pupil learning, strengthen families, and develop a healthier community and how the school resource coordinator will coordinate the described programming. To qualify for a grant under sub. (3), the school board shall include in the programming described in the school board's application at least 3 of the following:

AB813,4,25 (a) High-quality child care or early childhood education programming.

AB813,5,2 (b) Academic support and enrichment activities, including expanded learning time and summer or after-school enrichment and learning experiences.

AB813,5,3 (c) Home visitation services by teachers or other professionals.

AB813,5,5 (d) Programs that promote parental involvement and family literacy, including parent leadership development activities and parenting education activities.

AB813,5,7 (e) Job training, internship opportunities, career counseling services, and community service and service-learning opportunities.

AB813,5,9 (f) Health services, including primary health, school nursing, and dental care, mental health counseling services, and nutrition services.

AB813,5,10 (g) Adult education, including instruction in English as a 2nd language.

AB813,5,11 (h) Juvenile crime prevention and rehabilitation programs.

AB813,5,12 (i) Homeless prevention services.

AB813,5,16 (j) Professional development for school administrators, teachers, and educational support professionals in culturally responsive teaching and practices that promote enhanced understanding, respect, and relationships among staff, pupils, families, and the community.

AB813,5,18 (5) A grant awarded under sub. (3) is for a 5-year term and is renewable for additional 5-year periods.

AB813,5,22 (6) Annually, the recipient of a grant under sub. (3) shall submit to the department a report describing the recipient's efforts to integrate community school programming at the school and the impact of the programming on participating children and adults.

AB813,4 Section 4 . 119.04 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB813,6,11 119.04 (1) Subchapters IV, V, and VII of ch. 115, ch. 121, and ss. 66.0235 (3) (c), 66.0603 (1m) to (3), 115.01 (1) and (2), 115.28, 115.31, 115.33, 115.34, 115.343, 115.345, 115.363, 115.364, 115.365 (3), 115.366, 115.367, 115.38 (2), 115.393, 115.415, 115.445, 118.001 to 118.04, 118.045, 118.06, 118.07, 118.075, 118.076, 118.10, 118.12, 118.125 to 118.14, 118.145 (4), 118.15, 118.153, 118.16, 118.162, 118.163, 118.164, 118.18, 118.19, 118.196, 118.20, 118.223, 118.225, 118.24 (1), (2) (c) to (f), (6), (8), and (10), 118.245, 118.25, 118.255, 118.258, 118.291, 118.292, 118.293, 118.30 to 118.43, 118.46, 118.50, 118.51, 118.52, 118.53, 118.55, 118.56, 120.12 (2m), (4m), (5), and (15) to (27), 120.125, 120.13 (1), (2) (b) to (g), (3), (14), (17) to (19), (26), (34), (35), (37), (37m), and (38), 120.137, 120.14, 120.20, 120.21 (3), and 120.25 are applicable to a 1st class city school district and board but not, unless explicitly provided in this chapter or in the terms of a contract, to the commissioner or to any school transferred to an opportunity schools and partnership program.

AB813,5 Section 5. Fiscal changes.

AB813,6,18 (1) University of Wisconsin System; general program operations. In the schedule under s. 20.005 (3) for the appropriation to the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System under s. 20.285 (1) (a), the dollar amount for fiscal year 2021-22 is increased by $1,460,000 and the dollar amount for fiscal year 2022-23 is increased by $1,460,000 for the purpose for which the appropriation is made.

AB813,6,19 (End)