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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1034
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 4686
Referred to Committee on EDUCATION
Introduced by:
(ED)
AN ACT CONCERNING MI NORITY TEACHER RECRU ITMENT AND
RETENTION.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "Minority" has the same meaning as provided in section 10-156bb 2
of the general statutes; 3
(2) "Minority candidate" means an individual who is a minority and 4
employed by a local or regional board of education as a school 5
paraprofessional or an associate instructor; 6
(3) "Residency program" means an alternate route to certification 7
program approved by the State Board of Education pursuant to section 8
10-145m of the general statutes or section 10-155d of the general statutes, 9
that requires participants to complete a residency in which such 10
participants serve (A) in a position requiring professional certification, 11
and (B) in a full-time position for ten school months at a local or regional 12
board of education in the state under the supervision of (i) a certified 13
administrator or teacher, and (ii) a supervisor from the regional 14 Raised Bill No. 1034
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educational service center or private, nonprofit teacher or administrator 15
operating such alternate route to certification program; and 16
(4) "Alliance district" has the same meaning as provided in section 10-17
262u of the general statutes, as amended by this act. 18
(b) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and each fiscal year 19
thereafter, the Department of Education shall administer the minority 20
candidate certification, retention or residency year program. Such 21
program shall assist (1) minority candidates in enrolling in a residency 22
program for purposes of becoming full-time, certified teachers upon 23
successful completion of such residency program, and (2) local and 24
regional boards of education in hiring and retaining such minority 25
candidates. 26
(c) (1) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and each fiscal year 27
thereafter, each local and regional board of education for an alliance 28
district shall partner with the operator of a residency program for 29
purposes of enrolling minority candidates and placing them in such 30
school district as part of such residency program. Following the 31
successful completion of the residency program by a minority 32
candidate, such board may hire such minority candidate. Such board 33
may apply to the Commissioner of Education, at such time and in such 34
manner as the commissioner prescribes, to receive a deferred or use 35
grant payment, as described in subdivision (2) of this subsection, for any 36
of the costs described in subsection (e) of this section. 37
(2) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and each fiscal year 38
thereafter, the Commissioner of Education shall withhold from each 39
alliance district, from the funds transferred by the Comptroller pursuant 40
to subsection (c) of section 10-262u of the general statutes, as amended 41
by this act, ten per cent of any increase in such funds that the alliance 42
district receives over the amount that it received for the fiscal year 43
ending June 30, 2020. The department shall use such funds to make 44
deferred or use grant payments to alliance districts under this section. 45
(d) (1) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and each fiscal year 46 Raised Bill No. 1034
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thereafter, any local or regional board of education, other than a local or 47
regional board of education for an alliance district, may partner with the 48
operator of a residency program for purposes of enrolling minority 49
candidates and placing them in such school district as part of such 50
residency program. Following the successful completion of the 51
residency program by a minority candidate, such board may hire such 52
minority candidate. Such board may apply to the Commissioner of 53
Education, at such time and in such manner as the commissioner 54
prescribes, to receive a grant for any of the costs described in subsection 55
(e) of this section. 56
(2) The commissioner may, within available appropriations, award a 57
grant to a local or regional board of education described in subdivision 58
(1) of this subsection for any of the costs described in subsection (e) of 59
this section. 60
(e) Any payments made or grants awarded under this section may be 61
used for costs associated with the (1) enrollment of such minority 62
candidates in a residency program, (2) certification process for such 63
minority candidates, (3) hiring of such minority candidates following 64
the successful completion of a residency program, or (4) retention of 65
such minority candidates as certified employees of the school district. 66
(f) Any unexpended funds paid or awarded to a local or regional 67
board of education under this section shall not lapse at the end of the 68
fiscal year but shall be available for expenditure during the next fiscal 69
year for purposes of implementing the provisions of this section. 70
(g) The department shall develop guidelines and criteria for the 71
implementation of the minority candidate certification, retention or 72
residency year program and administration of funds under this section. 73
Sec. 2. Subdivision (2) of subsection (c) of section 10-262u of the 74
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 75
thereof (Effective July 1, 2021): 76
(2) Upon receipt of an application pursuant to subsection (d) of this 77 Raised Bill No. 1034
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section or section 1 of this act, the Commissioner of Education may pay 78
such funds to the town designated as an alliance district and such town 79
shall pay all such funds to the local or regional board of education for 80
such town on the condition that such funds shall be expended in 81
accordance with (A) the plan described in subsection (d) of this section, 82
(B) the minority candidate certification, retention or residency year 83
program pursuant to section 1 of this act, (C) the provisions of 84
subsection (c) of section 10-262i, and (D) any guidelines developed by 85
the State Board of Education for such funds. Such funds shall be used to 86
improve student achievement and recruit and retain minority teachers 87
in such alliance district and to offset any other local education costs 88
approved by the commissioner. 89
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) The Commissioner of 90
Education, the president of the Connecticut State Colleges and 91
Universities and the dean of the Neag School of Education at The 92
University of Connecticut shall jointly develop a plan to assist local and 93
regional boards of education in promoting the teaching profession as a 94
career option to students in high school. Such plan shall include, but 95
need not be limited to, a means for local and regional boards of 96
education to develop partnerships with educator preparation programs 97
in the state, and the creation of counseling programs directed to high 98
school students in order to inform them about and recruit them to the 99
teaching profession. 100
(b) Not later than September 1, 2021, the Department of Education 101
shall distribute to local and regional boards of education information 102
that promotes the teaching profession, including materials relating to 103
educator preparation programs and alternative route to certification 104
programs offered in the state, for school counselors and students. The 105
department shall also make such information available on its Internet 106
web site. 107
Sec. 4. Section 10-156ee of the general statutes is repealed and the 108
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2021): 109 Raised Bill No. 1034
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Not later than January 1, 2019, the Department of Education, in 110
consultation with the Minority Teacher Recruitment Policy Oversight 111
Council, shall (1) identify relevant research and successful practices to 112
enhance minority teacher recruitment throughout the state, (2) identify 113
and establish public, private and philanthropic partnerships to increase 114
minority teacher recruitment, (3) utilize, monitor and evaluate 115
innovative methods to attract minority candidates to the teaching 116
profession, particularly in subject areas in which a teacher shortage 117
exists, as determined by the Commissioner of Education pursuant to 118
section 10-8b, (4) modernize the process for educators to obtain educator 119
certification under this chapter by eliminating obstacles to certification 120
to increase competitiveness with other states, (5) identify and utilize 121
high-quality, affordable and bias-free educator assessments, (6) adopt 122
cut scores for educator assessments, that do not exceed the multistate 123
cut scores, to increase competitiveness with surrounding states, (7) 124
support new and existing educator preparation programs that commit 125
to enrolling greater numbers of minority teacher candidates in a manner 126
that supports interstate reciprocity, (8) monitor, advise and support, and 127
intervene in when necessary, local and regional boards of education's 128
efforts to prioritize minority teacher recruitment and develop 129
innovative strategies to attract and retain minority teachers within their 130
districts, [and] (9) (A) on and after July 1, 2019, include a question 131
regarding the demographic data of applicants for positions requiring 132
educator certification in the department's annual hiring survey 133
distributed to local and regional boards of education, and (B) not later 134
than July 1, 2020, and annually thereafter, submit a report, in accordance 135
with the provisions of section 11-4a, on the applicant demographic data 136
collected pursuant to subparagraph (A) of this subdivision to the 137
minority teacher recruitment task force, established pursuant to section 138
10-156aa, and to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly 139
having cognizance of matters relating to education, and (10) not later 140
than July 1, 2022, develop and make available, in consultation with the 141
State Education Resource Center, a video training module for school 142
district personnel involved in or responsible for hiring educators 143
relating to implicit bias and anti-bias in the hiring process. For purposes 144 Raised Bill No. 1034
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of this section, "minority" has the same meaning as provided in section 145
10-156bb. 146
Sec. 5. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) For the school year commencing 147
July 1, 2023, and each school year thereafter, any employee of a local or 148
regional board of education who is involved in or responsible for hiring 149
educators for the school district shall successfully complete the video 150
training module relating to implicit bias and anti-bias in the hiring 151
process, developed pursuant to section 10-156ee of the general statutes, 152
as amended by this act, prior to such employee's participation in the 153
educator hiring process for the school district. 154
Sec. 6. Subsection (a) of section 10-220a of the general statutes is 155
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 156
2021): 157
(a) Each local or regional board of education shall provide an in-158
service training program for its teachers, administrators and pupil 159
personnel who hold the initial educator, provisional educator or 160
professional educator certificate. Such program shall provide such 161
teachers, administrators and pupil personnel with information on (1) 162
the nature and the relationship of alcohol and drugs, as defined in 163
subdivision (17) of section 21a-240, to health and personality 164
development, and procedures for discouraging their abuse, (2) health 165
and mental health risk reduction education that includes, but need not 166
be limited to, the prevention of risk-taking behavior by children and the 167
relationship of such behavior to substance abuse, pregnancy, sexually 168
transmitted diseases, including HIV-infection and AIDS, as defined in 169
section 19a-581, violence, teen dating violence, domestic violence and 170
child abuse, (3) school violence prevention, conflict resolution, the 171
prevention of and response to youth suicide and the identification and 172
prevention of and response to bullying, as defined in subsection (a) of 173
section 10-222d, except that those boards of education that implement 174
any evidence-based model approach that is approved by the 175
Department of Education and is consistent with subsection (c) of section 176
10-145a, sections 10-222d, 10-222g and 10-222h, subsection (g) of section 177 Raised Bill No. 1034
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10-233c and sections 1 and 3 of public act 08-160*, shall not be required 178
to provide in-service training on the identification and prevention of 179
and response to bullying, (4) cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other 180
emergency life saving procedures, (5) the requirements and obligations 181
of a mandated reporter, (6) the detection and recognition of, and 182
evidence-based structured literacy interventions for, students with 183
dyslexia, as defined in section 10-3d, and (7) culturally responsive 184
pedagogy and practice, including, but not limited to, the video training 185
module relating to implicit bias and anti-bias in the hiring process in 186
accordance with the provisions of section 5 of this act. Each local or 187
regional board of education may allow any paraprofessional or 188
noncertified employee to participate, on a voluntary basis, in any in-189
service training program provided pursuant to this section. 190
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2021 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2021 10-262u(c)(2)
Sec. 3 July 1, 2021 New section
Sec. 4 July 1, 2021 10-156ee
Sec. 5 July 1, 2021 New section
Sec. 6 July 1, 2021 10-220a(a)
Statement of Purpose:
To improve minority teacher recruitment and retention in the state by
(1) establishing the minority candidate certification, retention or
residency year program, (2) developing a plan to promote the teaching
profession as a career option to students in high school, and (3) develop
and require school district personnel responsible for hiring educators to
complete a video training module relating to implicit bias and anti-bias
in the hiring process.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]