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A4727
ASSEMBLY, No. 4727
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED MARCH 16, 2026
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman� DAVID BAILEY, JR.
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
SYNOPSIS
���� Establishes Social-Emotional Learning Program in DOE;
appropriates $2 million.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
establishing a Social-Emotional Learning Program
in the Department of Education, supplementing chapter 6 of Title 18A of the New
Jersey Statutes, and making an appropriation.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
����� 1.
�a. There is established in the Department of Education a Social-Emotional
Learning Program.� The purpose of the program shall be to provide a universal,
school-based, social-emotional learning program to public school students in
grades kindergarten through five to help enhance positive youth development and
academic achievement.� The program shall be implemented through two educational
strategies. The first strategy shall teach students about processing,
integrating, and selectively applying social and emotional skills.� The second
strategy shall involve fostering students� social-emotional development by
creating safe and caring learning environments using tiered supports that
incorporate peer and family activities, improved classroom management and
teaching practices, and whole-school community-building activities. The Child
Connection Center in the Clayton Public School District shall be appointed to
manage the administration and implementation of the program.
����� b.
The Commissioner of Education shall select school districts to participate in
the program.� The commissioner shall select school districts from the northern
area of the State, the central area of the State, and the southern area of the
State, including the Clayton School District in Gloucester County. The
commissioner shall identify schools for participation in the program in
collaboration with the Child Connection Center.
���� c.���� The
program shall consist of two cohorts of school districts that shall include a
total of 103 schools. The commissioner shall initiate the program in three-year
phases and provide for full implementation by no later than the third year of
the program. The first cohort shall be determined by the beginning of the 2026-2027
school year, and the second cohort shall be determined by the beginning of the 2027-2028
school year. The Clayton School District shall serve as the model site for the
southern area of the State. A school district located in another area of the
State that wishes to become a model site for the area in which the district is located
shall submit an application to the commissioner in a manner and form to be
determined by the commissioner. As a condition of acceptance as a model site, the
Clayton School District and the other school districts chosen as model sites
shall enter into an agreement with the Department of Education to remain a
model site for a period of four years.
���� d.
Model sites shall support the accurate communication of the model to
administrators and teachers in schools participating in the program and design
and conduct the training for area-level social-emotional learning
coordinators.� The Child Connection Center shall be responsible for the
management of the social-emotional learning programming under the program, and shall
hire social-emotional learning coordinators at the area level who will train
and organize the placement of social-emotional learning specialists, including
social workers, behavioral health care providers, or other social-emotional
learning professionals, to provide social-emotional learning supports at the
school level under the program.�
���� 2.� a.� The commissioner shall
annually provide a report by July 1st of each year to the State Board of
Education, the Governor, and the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991,
c.164 (C.52:14-19.1).� The annual report shall include the costs of the program
in the immediately preceding school year, the total costs of the program to
date, the number and names of the school districts and schools participating in
the program, the number of students served under the program, and any
additional other information that the commissioner deems appropriate.�
���� b. The annual report provided
pursuant to this section for the fourth year of implementation of the program
shall include an evaluation of the program and a recommendation on the
advisability of its continuation or expansion to all school districts in the
State.
���� 3. �� a. For the first three
years of implementation of the program, the State shall annually appropriate
funds such that a participating school district�s social-emotional learning
program is supported by the State according to the following schedule:
���� (1) 50 percent of program
costs in the first year of implementation;
���� (2) 35 percent of program
costs in the second year of implementation; and
���� (3) 25 percent of program
costs in the third year of implementation.
���� b.� The Department of
Education shall reevaluate the percentage of State support for school district program
costs following the fourth year of implementation.
���� 4. There is appropriated from
the General Fund to the Department of Education the sum of $2,000,000 to
effectuate the provisions of this act.
���� 5. �This act shall take effect
immediately.
STATEMENT
�����
This bill establishes a Social-Emotional Learning program in the
Department of Education.� The purpose of the program is to provide a universal,
school-based, social-emotional learning program to public school students in
grades kindergarten through five to help enhance positive youth development and
academic achievement.
����� The
program would be implemented through two educational strategies. The first
strategy teaches students about processing, integrating, and selectively
applying social and emotional skills.� The second strategy involves fostering
students� social-emotional development by creating safe and caring learning
environments using tiered supports that incorporate peer and family activities,
improved classroom management and teaching practices, and whole-school
community-building activities. The bill provides that the Child Connection
Center in the Clayton School District would be appointed to manage the
administration and implementation of the program.
����� Under
the bill, the Commissioner of Education would select school districts to
participate in the program.� The commissioner is required to select school
districts from the northern area of the State, the central area of the State,
and the southern area of the State, including the Clayton School District in
Gloucester County. The bill provides that the commissioner is required to
identify schools for participation in the program in collaboration with the Child
Connection Center.
����� The
bill provides that the program would consist of two cohorts of school districts
that would include a total of 103 schools. The commissioner would initiate the
program in three-year phases and provide for full implementation by no later
than the third year of the program. The first cohort would be determined by the
beginning of the 2026-2027 school year, and the second cohort would be
determined by the beginning of the 2027-2028 school year. The bill requires
that the schools be identified in collaboration with the Child Connection
Center in Clayton.
���� Under
the bill, the Clayton School District would serve as the model site for the
southern area of the State. A school district located in another area of the
State that wishes to become a model site for the area in which the district is
located would submit an application to the Commissioner of Education. As a
condition of acceptance as a model site, the Clayton School District and the
other school districts chosen as model sites would be required to enter into an
agreement with the Department of Education to remain a model site for a period
of four years.
���� The
bill provides that model sites would support the accurate communication of the
model to administrators and teachers in schools participating in the program
and design and conduct the training for area-level social-emotional learning
coordinators.� The Child Connection Center would be responsible for the
management of the social-emotional learning programming under the program, and
would hire social-emotional learning coordinators at the area level who will train
and organize the placement of social-emotional learning specialists, including
social workers, behavioral health care providers, or other social-emotional
learning professionals, to provide social-emotional learning supports at the
school level under the program.�
���� The bill requires the commissioner
to provide annual reports by July 1st of each year of the program to the State
Board of Education, the Governor, and the Legislature. The report is required
to include the costs of the program in the immediately preceding school year,
total program costs to date, the number and names of the school districts and
schools participating in the program, the number of students served under the
program, and any other information that the commissioner deems appropriate. The
report would also include an evaluation of the program and a recommendation on
the advisability of its continuation or expansion to all school districts in
the State.
���� Finally, the bill appropriates
$2 million to the Department of Education for the program and includes
provisions laying out certain parameters for State funding of the program in
the first three years of implementation. �