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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 1034
January Session, 2021
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 a certification program approved by 7
the State Board of Education that requires participants to complete a 8
residency in which such participants serve (A) in a position otherwise 9
requiring professional certification, and (B) in a full-time position for ten 10
school months at a local or regional board of education in the state under 11
the supervision of (i) a certified administrator or teacher, and (ii) a 12
supervisor from the regional educational service center or private, 13
nonprofit teacher or administrator operating such certification program; 14
and 15
(4) "Alliance district" has the same meaning as provided in section 10-16 Substitute Bill No. 1034
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262u of the general statutes, as amended by this act. 17
(b) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and each fiscal year 18
thereafter, the Department of Education shall administer the minority 19
candidate certification, retention or residency year program. Such 20
program shall assist (1) minority candidates in enrolling in a residency 21
program for purposes of becoming full-time, certified teachers upon 22
successful completion of such residency program, and (2) local and 23
regional boards of education in hiring and retaining such minority 24
candidates. 25
(c) (1) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and each fiscal year 26
thereafter, each local and regional board of education for an alliance 27
district shall partner with the operator of a residency program for 28
purposes of enrolling minority candidates and placing them in such 29
school district as part of such residency program. Following the 30
successful completion of the residency program by a minority 31
candidate, such board may hire such minority candidate. Such board 32
may apply to the Commissioner of Education, at such time and in such 33
manner as the commissioner prescribes, to receive a payment, as 34
described in subdivision (2) of this subsection, for any of the costs 35
described in subsection (e) of this section. 36
(2) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and each fiscal year 37
thereafter, the Commissioner of Education shall withhold from an 38
alliance district, from the funds transferred by the Comptroller pursuant 39
to subsection (c) of section 10-262u of the general statutes, as amended 40
by this act, ten per cent of any increase in such funds that such alliance 41
district receives for the fiscal year over the amount of such funds that it 42
received for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. The department shall 43
use such funds to make a payment to such alliance district and such 44
alliance district shall expend such payment for any of the costs 45
described in subsection (e) of this section. 46
(d) (1) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and each fiscal year 47
thereafter, any local or regional board of education, other than a local or 48 Substitute Bill No. 1034
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regional board of education for an alliance district, may partner with the 49
operator of a residency program for purposes of enrolling minority 50
candidates and placing them in such school district as part of such 51
residency program. Following the successful completion of the 52
residency program by a minority candidate, such board may hire such 53
minority candidate. Such board may apply to the Commissioner of 54
Education, at such time and in such manner as the commissioner 55
prescribes, to receive a grant for any of the costs described in subsection 56
(e) of this section. 57
(2) The commissioner may, within available appropriations, award a 58
grant to a local or regional board of education described in subdivision 59
(1) of this subsection for any of the costs described in subsection (e) of 60
this section. 61
(e) Any payments made or grants awarded under this section may be 62
used for costs associated with the (1) enrollment of such minority 63
candidates in a residency program, (2) certification process for such 64
minority candidates, (3) hiring of such minority candidates following 65
the successful completion of a residency program, or (4) retention of 66
such minority candidates as certified employees of the school district. 67
(f) Any unexpended funds paid or awarded to a local or regional 68
board of education under this section shall not lapse at the end of the 69
fiscal year but shall be available for expenditure during the next fiscal 70
year for purposes of implementing the provisions of this section. 71
(g) The department shall develop guidelines and criteria for the 72
implementation of the minority candidate certification, retention or 73
residency year program and administration of funds under this section. 74
Sec. 2. Subdivision (2) of subsection (c) of section 10-262u of the 75
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 76
thereof (Effective July 1, 2021): 77
(2) Upon receipt of an application pursuant to subsection (d) of this 78
section or section 1 of this act, the Commissioner of Education may pay 79 Substitute Bill No. 1034
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such funds to the town designated as an alliance district and such town 80
shall pay all such funds to the local or regional board of education for 81
such town on the condition that such funds shall be expended in 82
accordance with (A) the plan described in subsection (d) of this section, 83
(B) the minority candidate certification, retention or residency year 84
program pursuant to section 1 of this act, (C) the provisions of 85
subsection (c) of section 10-262i, and (D) any guidelines developed by 86
the State Board of Education for such funds. Such funds shall be used to 87
improve student achievement and recruit and retain minority teachers 88
in such alliance district and to offset any other local education costs 89
approved by the commissioner. 90
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) The Commissioner of 91
Education, the president of the Connecticut State Colleges and 92
Universities and the dean of the Neag School of Education at The 93
University of Connecticut shall jointly develop a plan to assist local and 94
regional boards of education in promoting the teaching profession as a 95
career option to students in high school. Such plan shall include, but 96
need not be limited to, a means for local and regional boards of 97
education to develop partnerships with educator preparation programs 98
in the state, and the creation of counseling programs directed to high 99
school students in order to inform them about and recruit them to the 100
teaching profession. 101
(b) Not later than September 1, 2021, the Department of Education 102
shall distribute to local and regional boards of education information 103
that promotes the teaching profession, including materials relating to 104
educator preparation programs and alternative route to certification 105
programs offered in the state, for school counselors and students. The 106
department shall also make such information available on its Internet 107
web site. 108
Sec. 4. Section 10-156ee of the general statutes is repealed and the 109
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2021): 110
Not later than January 1, 2019, the Department of Education, in 111 Substitute Bill No. 1034
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consultation with the Minority Teacher Recruitment Policy Oversight 112
Council, shall (1) identify relevant research and successful practices to 113
enhance minority teacher recruitment throughout the state, (2) identify 114
and establish public, private and philanthropic partnerships to increase 115
minority teacher recruitment, (3) utilize, monitor and evaluate 116
innovative methods to attract minority candidates to the teaching 117
profession, particularly in subject areas in which a teacher shortage 118
exists, as determined by the Commissioner of Education pursuant to 119
section 10-8b, (4) modernize the process for educators to obtain educator 120
certification under this chapter by eliminating obstacles to certification 121
to increase competitiveness with other states, (5) identify and utilize 122
high-quality, affordable and bias-free educator assessments, (6) adopt 123
cut scores for educator assessments, that do not exceed the multistate 124
cut scores, to increase competitiveness with surrounding states, (7) 125
support new and existing educator preparation programs that commit 126
to enrolling greater numbers of minority teacher candidates in a manner 127
that supports interstate reciprocity, (8) monitor, advise and support, and 128
intervene in when necessary, local and regional boards of education's 129
efforts to prioritize minority teacher recruitment and develop 130
innovative strategies to attract and retain minority teachers within their 131
districts, [and] (9) (A) on and after July 1, 2019, include a question 132
regarding the demographic data of applicants for positions requiring 133
educator certification in the department's annual hiring survey 134
distributed to local and regional boards of education, and (B) not later 135
than July 1, 2020, and annually thereafter, submit a report, in accordance 136
with the provisions of section 11-4a, on the applicant demographic data 137
collected pursuant to subparagraph (A) of this subdivision to the 138
minority teacher recruitment task force, established pursuant to section 139
10-156aa, and to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly 140
having cognizance of matters relating to education, and (10) not later 141
than July 1, 2022, develop and make available, in consultation with the 142
State Education Resource Center, a video training module for school 143
district personnel involved in or responsible for hiring educators 144
relating to implicit bias and anti-bias in the hiring process. For purposes 145
of this section, "minority" has the same meaning as provided in section 146 Substitute Bill No. 1034
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10-156bb. 147
Sec. 5. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) For the school year commencing 148
July 1, 2023, and each school year thereafter, any employee of a local or 149
regional board of education who is involved in or responsible for hiring 150
educators for the school district shall successfully complete the video 151
training module relating to implicit bias and anti-bias in the hiring 152
process, developed pursuant to section 10-156ee of the general statutes, 153
as amended by this act, prior to such employee's participation in the 154
educator hiring process for the school district. 155
Sec. 6. Subsection (a) of section 10-220a of the general statutes is 156
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 157
2021): 158
(a) Each local or regional board of education shall provide an in-159
service training program for its teachers, administrators and pupil 160
personnel who hold the initial educator, provisional educator or 161
professional educator certificate. Such program shall provide such 162
teachers, administrators and pupil personnel with information on (1) 163
the nature and the relationship of alcohol and drugs, as defined in 164
subdivision (17) of section 21a-240, to health and personality 165
development, and procedures for discouraging their abuse, (2) health 166
and mental health risk reduction education that includes, but need not 167
be limited to, the prevention of risk-taking behavior by children and the 168
relationship of such behavior to substance abuse, pregnancy, sexually 169
transmitted diseases, including HIV-infection and AIDS, as defined in 170
section 19a-581, violence, teen dating violence, domestic violence and 171
child abuse, (3) school violence prevention, conflict resolution, the 172
prevention of and response to youth suicide and the identification and 173
prevention of and response to bullying, as defined in subsection (a) of 174
section 10-222d, except that those boards of education that implement 175
any evidence-based model approach that is approved by the 176
Department of Education and is consistent with subsection (c) of section 177
10-145a, sections 10-222d, 10-222g and 10-222h, subsection (g) of section 178
10-233c and sections 1 and 3 of public act 08-160, shall not be required 179 Substitute Bill No. 1034
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to provide in-service training on the identification and prevention of 180
and response to bullying, (4) cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other 181
emergency life saving procedures, (5) the requirements and obligations 182
of a mandated reporter, (6) the detection and recognition of, and 183
evidence-based structured literacy interventions for, students with 184
dyslexia, as defined in section 10-3d, and (7) culturally responsive 185
pedagogy and practice, including, but not limited to, the video training 186
module relating to implicit bias and anti-bias in the hiring process in 187
accordance with the provisions of section 5 of this act. Each local or 188
regional board of education may allow any paraprofessional or 189
noncertified employee to participate, on a voluntary basis, in any in-190
service training program provided pursuant to this section. 191
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 Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 1(a)(3)(A), "otherwise" was added after "position" for clarity.
ED Joint Favorable Subst. C/R APP
APP Joint Favorable Subst.-LCO