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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7313
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 5542
Referred to Committee on EDUCATION
Introduced by:
(ED)
AN ACT CONCERNING HOMELESS STUDENTS' ACCESS TO
EDUCATION.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 10-186 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2019): 2
(a) Each local or regional board of education shall furnish, by 3
transportation or otherwise, school accommodations so that each child 4
five years of age and over and under twenty-one years of age who is 5
not a graduate of a high school or technical education and career 6
school may attend public school, except as provided in section 10-233c 7
and subsection (d) of section 10-233d. Any board of education which 8
denies school accommodations, including a denial based on an issue of 9
residency, to any such child shall inform the parent or guardian of 10
such child or the child, in the case of an emancipated minor, [or] a 11
pupil eighteen years of age or older or an unaccompanied youth, as 12
described in 42 USC 11434a, as amended from time to time, of his or 13
her right to request a hearing by the board of education in accordance 14
with the provisions of subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this section. 15
A board of education which has denied school accommodations shall 16 Raised Bill No. 7313
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advise the board of education under whose jurisdiction it claims such 17
child should be attending school of the denial. For purposes of this 18
section, (1) a "parent or guardian" shall include a surrogate parent 19
appointed pursuant to section 10-94g, and (2) a child residing in a 20
dwelling located in more than one town in this state shall be 21
considered a resident of each town in which the dwelling is located 22
and may attend school in any one of such towns. For purposes of this 23
subsection, "dwelling" means a single, two or three-family house or a 24
condominium unit. 25
(b) (1) If any board of education denies such accommodations, the 26
parent or guardian of any child who is denied schooling, or an 27
emancipated minor, [or] a pupil eighteen years of age or older or an 28
unaccompanied youth who is denied schooling, or an agent or officer 29
charged with the enforcement of the laws concerning attendance at 30
school, may, in writing, request a hearing by the board of education. 31
The board of education may (A) conduct the hearing, (B) designate a 32
subcommittee of the board composed of three board members to 33
conduct the hearing, or (C) establish a local impartial hearing board of 34
one or more persons not members of the board of education to conduct 35
the hearing. The board, subcommittee or local impartial hearing board 36
shall give such person a hearing [within] not later than ten days after 37
receipt of the written request, make a stenographic record or tape 38
recording of the hearing and make a finding [within] not later than ten 39
days after the hearing. Hearings shall be conducted in accordance with 40
the provisions of sections 4-176e to 4-180a, inclusive, and section 4-41
181a. Any child, emancipated minor, [or] pupil eighteen years of age 42
or older or unaccompanied youth who is denied accommodations on 43
the basis of residency may continue in attendance in the school district 44
at the request of the parent or guardian of such child or emancipated 45
minor, [or] pupil eighteen years of age or older or unaccompanied 46
youth, pending a hearing pursuant to this subdivision. The party 47
claiming ineligibility for school accommodations shall have the burden 48
of proving such ineligibility by a preponderance of the evidence, 49
except in cases of denial of schooling based on residency, the party 50 Raised Bill No. 7313
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denied schooling shall have the burden of proving residency by a 51
preponderance of the evidence, unless the party denied schooling is 52
claiming that he or she is a homeless child or youth, as defined in 42 53
USC 11434a, as amended from time to time, in which case, the party 54
claiming ineligibility based on residency shall have the burden of 55
proving that the party denied schooling is not a homeless child or 56
youth by a preponderance of the evidence in accordance with the 57
provisions of 42 USC 11431, et seq., as amended from time to time. 58
(2) Any homeless child or youth who is denied accommodations by 59
a board of education as the result of a determination by such board, or 60
a subcommittee of the board or local impartial hearing board, that the 61
child is not entitled to school accommodations in the district, shall 62
continue in attendance or be immediately enrolled in the school 63
selected by the child in the school district pursuant to 42 USC 64
11432(g)(3), as amended from time to time. The board of education for 65
such school district shall (A) provide, in accordance with the 66
provisions of 42 USC 11432(g)(3)(E)(ii), as amended from time to time, 67
the homeless child or youth or the parent or guardian of such homeless 68
child or youth with (i) a written explanation of the reasons for the 69
denial of accommodations that is in a manner and form 70
understandable to such homeless child or youth or parent or guardian, 71
and (ii) information regarding the right to appeal the decision of the 72
denial of accommodations pursuant to subdivision (3) of this 73
subsection, and (B) refer, in accordance with the provisions of 42 USC 74
11432(g)(3)(E)(iii), as amended from time to time, the homeless child or 75
youth or the parent or guardian of such homeless child or youth to the 76
liaison, designated pursuant to 42 USC 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii), as amended 77
from time to time, who is responsible for carrying out the duties 78
described in 42 USC 11432(g)(6)(A), as amended from time to time. 79
[(2)] (3) Any such parent, guardian, emancipated minor, pupil 80
eighteen years of age or older, unaccompanied youth, or agent or 81
officer, aggrieved by the finding shall, upon request, be provided with 82
a transcript of the hearing within thirty days after such request and 83 Raised Bill No. 7313
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may take an appeal from the finding to the State Board of Education. A 84
copy of each notice of appeal shall be filed simultaneously with the 85
local or regional board of education and the State Board of Education. 86
Any child, emancipated minor or pupil eighteen years of age or older 87
or unaccompanied youth who is denied accommodations by a board of 88
education as the result of a determination by such board, or a 89
subcommittee of the board or local impartial hearing board, that the 90
child is not a resident of the school district and therefore is not entitled 91
to school accommodations in the district may continue in attendance in 92
the school district at the request of the parent or guardian of such child 93
or such minor or pupil, pending a determination of such appeal, 94
except any homeless child or youth shall be entitled to continue in 95
attendance in the school district during all available appeals pursuant 96
to 42 USC 11432(g)(2)(E). If an appeal is not taken to the State Board of 97
Education within twenty days of the mailing of the finding to the 98
aggrieved party, the decision of the board, subcommittee or local 99
impartial hearing board shall be final. The local or regional board of 100
education shall, within ten days after receipt of notice of an appeal, 101
forward the record of the hearing to the State Board of Education. The 102
State Board of Education shall, on receipt of a written request for a 103
hearing made in accordance with the provisions of this subsection, 104
establish an impartial hearing board of one or more persons to hold a 105
public hearing in the local or regional school district in which the cause 106
of the complaint arises. Members of the hearing board may be 107
employees of the Department of Education or may be qualified 108
persons from outside the department. No member of the board of 109
education under review nor any employee of such board of education 110
shall be a member of the hearing board. Members of the hearing board, 111
other than those employed by the Department of Education, shall be 112
paid reasonable fees and expenses as established by the State Board of 113
Education within the limits of available appropriations. Such hearing 114
board may examine witnesses and shall maintain a verbatim record of 115
all formal sessions of the hearing. Either party to the hearing may 116
request that the hearing board join all interested parties to the hearing, 117
or the hearing board may join any interested party on its own motion. 118 Raised Bill No. 7313
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The hearing board shall have no authority to make a determination of 119
the rights and responsibilities of a board of education if such board is 120
not a party to the hearing. The hearing board may render a 121
determination of actual residence of any child, emancipated minor, 122
[or] pupil eighteen years of age or older or unaccompanied youth 123
where residency is at issue. 124
[(3)] (4) The hearing board shall render its decision within forty-five 125
days after receipt of the notice of appeal except that an extension may 126
be granted by the Commissioner of Education upon an application by 127
a party or the hearing board describing circumstances related to the 128
hearing which require an extension. 129
[(4)] (5) If, after the hearing, the hearing board finds that any child is 130
illegally or unreasonably denied schooling, the hearing board shall 131
order the board of education under whose jurisdiction it has been 132
found such child should be attending school to make arrangements to 133
enable the child to attend public school. Except in the case of a 134
residency determination, the finding of the local or regional board of 135
education, subcommittee of such board or a local impartial hearing 136
board shall be upheld unless it is determined by the hearing board that 137
the finding was arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable. If such school 138
officers fail to take action upon such order in any case in which such 139
child is currently denied schooling and no suitable provision is made 140
for such child within fifteen days after receipt of the order and in all 141
other cases, within thirty days after receipt of the order, there shall be a 142
forfeiture of the money appropriated by the state for the support of 143
schools amounting to fifty dollars for each child for each day such 144
child is denied schooling. If the hearing board makes a determination 145
that the child was not a resident of the school district and therefore not 146
entitled to school accommodations from such district, the board of 147
education may assess tuition against the parent or guardian of the 148
child or the emancipated minor or pupil eighteen years of age or older 149
based on the following: One one-hundred-eightieth of the town's net 150
current local educational expenditure, as defined in section 10-261, per 151 Raised Bill No. 7313
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pupil multiplied by the number of days of school attendance of the 152
child in the district while not entitled to school accommodations 153
provided by that district. The local board of education may seek to 154
recover the amount of the assessment through available civil remedies. 155
(c) In the event of an appeal pursuant to section 10-187 from a 156
decision of a hearing board established pursuant to subsection (b) of 157
this section, upon request, the State Board of Education shall supply 158
for the fee per page specified in section 1-212, a copy of the transcript 159
of the formal sessions of the hearing board to the parent or guardian or 160
emancipated minor or a pupil eighteen years of age or older or 161
unaccompanied youth and to the local or regional board of education. 162
(d) (1) For the school year commencing July 1, 2010, if a child sixteen 163
years of age or older voluntarily terminates enrollment in a school 164
district and subsequently seeks readmission, the local or regional 165
board of education for the school district may deny school 166
accommodations to such child for up to ninety school days from the 167
date of such termination, unless such child seeks readmission to such 168
school district not later than ten school days after such termination in 169
which case such board shall provide school accommodations to such 170
child not later than three school days after such child seeks 171
readmission. 172
(2) For the school year commencing July 1, 2011, and each school 173
year thereafter, if a child seventeen years of age or older voluntarily 174
terminates enrollment in a school district and subsequently seeks 175
readmission, the local or regional board of education for the school 176
district may deny school accommodations to such child for up to 177
ninety school days from the date of such termination, unless such child 178
seeks readmission to such school district not later than ten school days 179
after such termination in which case such board shall provide school 180
accommodations to such child not later than three school days after 181
such child seeks readmission. 182
(e) A local or regional board of education shall immediately enroll 183 Raised Bill No. 7313
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any student who transfers from Unified School District #1 or Unified 184
School District #2. In the case of a student who transfers from Unified 185
School District #1 or Unified School District #2 to the school district in 186
which such student attended school prior to enrollment in Unified 187
School District #1 or Unified School District #2, such student shall be 188
enrolled in the school such student previously attended, provided such 189
school has the appropriate grade level for such student. 190
Sec. 2. Subsection (f) of section 10-253 of the general statutes is 191
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 192
1, 2019): 193
(f) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, 194
educational services shall be provided by each local and regional 195
board of education to homeless children and youths in accordance 196
with the provisions of 42 USC 11431, et seq., as amended from time to 197
time. If a homeless child or youth is denied school accommodations by 198
a local or regional board of education on the basis of residency, such 199
homeless child or youth shall be entitled to a hearing conducted 200
pursuant to section 10-186, as amended by this act. An unaccompanied 201
youth, as described in 42 USC 11434a, as amended from time to time, 202
shall be entitled to knowledge of and have access to all educational, 203
medical or similar records in the cumulative record of such 204
unaccompanied youth maintained by a local or regional board of 205
education. 206
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2019 10-186
Sec. 2 July 1, 2019 10-253(f)
ED Joint Favorable