New Jersey Department of Education Awards Somerville Schools $26,935 to Improve Climate Change Instruction in the Classroom

TRENTON, NJ - The New Jersey Department of Education has awarded Somerville and 33 other New Jersey school districts over $1 million in grants to implement, improve, and expand climate-change instruction in the classroom.

The community projects grant totaling $1,058M will provide funds directly to school districts to help them partner with local organizations or their municipality to establish Interdisciplinary Learning Units and Community Resilience Projects. These projects will help schools impact their community through projects such as planting rain gardens with plants that will ease flooding; growing food using aquaponics to combat food insecurity; restoring native plant species; and planting dune grass to restore and protect native habitats.

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Somerville is the only school district from Somerset County in the program and will receive a grant of $26,935.

The Climate Change Learning Collaboratives grant will also fund programs in which colleges and universities will create Climate Change Learning Collaboratives to provide training to teachers on how to infuse climate change into the curriculum.

The grant programs are part of an overarching effort spearheaded by First Lady Tammy Murphy to effectively incorporate climate-change instruction into classroom instruction. When the New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) were updated in 2020, New Jersey became the first state in the nation to integrate the teaching of climate change across multiple content areas, ranging from science and social studies to world languages and the arts.

“Our nation-leading climate change education standards are setting New Jersey students up for a successful future as climate literate leaders of tomorrow,” said the First Lady. “These grants will ensure our state’s climate change instruction remains at the highest academic standard and that our educators are supported as they prepare new and innovative lessons. I am eager to see the creative approach each school will take to continue the successful rollout of this critical instruction across all learning standards.”

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“It has become evident that climate change is an issue of such significance that it touches the lives of everyone and, in turn, our learning standards reflect the importance of ensuring students receive accurate, relevant instruction on this topic,” said Acting Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer. “Building climate literacy today will help to prepare students to participate fully in our future workforce. These grants will help schools meet the challenge of infusing climate change across multiple subjects while making the content relevant and important to students.”

Climate Change Learning Collaboratives: Colleges and Universities

The Expanding Access to Climate Change Education and the New Jersey Student Learning Standards through Climate Change Learning Collaboratives funding will establish regional Climate Change Learning Collaboratives at four New Jersey colleges and universities. The CCLCs will provide training, technical assistance, and experiential learning opportunities to support local educators in implementing climate change education initiatives in the classroom and their local community. The CCLCs will also increase the number of K-12 educators who are prepared to teach high quality, standards-aligned climate change education.

The four institutions of higher education that have been selected to receive funding through the grants are: Ramapo College of New Jersey, $650,000; Rutgers University-New Brunswick, $324,699; Monmouth University, $311,276 and Stockton University, $650,000.

The Climate Change Learning Collaborative grant with colleges and universities runs until March 31, 2025 and the Interdisciplinary Learning and Community Resilience Projects grant program runs through May 31, 2025.

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