In Support of Senate Bill S381, NJSACC talks OST Advisory Commission at the Trenton State House

NJSACC was recently represented at the state Senate Education Committee in Trenton by Tyneisha Gibbs, Director of Expanded Learning Opportunities, who shared NJSACC’s statement in support of Senate Bill S381 which seeks to establish a New Jersey Out-of-School Time Advisory Commission. The Commission will:

1. Assess the state of out-of-school time programs in New Jersey by reviewing the policies of all State agencies that fund before school, after school, or summer programs, as well as review existing research and best practices;
2. Adopt appropriate Statewide standards for out-of-school time program design, implementation, and assessment;
3. Examine the existing amount of funding available for out-of-school time programs and the source of the funding; and
4. Examine the development and operation of out-of-school time programs in urban, suburban, and rural school districts, and make recommendations to increase the accountability and quality of the before school, after school, and summer programs.

Under the bill, the commission would include representatives from NJSACC, appropriate state agencies, public members, and a range of other organizations statewide that support school age care during out of school time hours.

In the testimony, NJSACC expressed how necessary it is to increase much needed collaboration and communication to break down the silos that often occur in government. This will maximize the funding, resources and opportunities for ensuring access to quality afterschool and out-of-school time programs for youth across the state of New Jersey.

The Bill is reflective of years of advocacy work done by Melanie Schultz, Director of Government Relations at the New Jersey School Administrators Association, NJSACC’s CEO Diane Genco, COO Ebony Grace, and former board member and White-Riley-Peterson fellow Nyeema Watson.

We are proud to share that the bill successfully made it through the committee process yesterday and now moves on to the next steps in the approval process.