O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 22-116—sHB 5466
Education Committee
Appropriations Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING ASSORTED REVISIONS AND ADDITIONS TO
THE EDUCATION STATUTES
SUMMARY: This act makes the following changes in the education statutes:
1. requires the Connecticut Prevention Network to report to executive branch
agencies and the Education Committee about the possibility of creating
recovery high schools (§ 1);
2. allows parents and guardians to access the class rank of their minor child
(i.e., a student under age 18) (§ 2);
3. extends the special education services and funding task force’s report due
date by two years, from January 1, 2022, to January 1, 2024 (see
BACKGROUND) (§ 3);
4. requires the executive director of the Connecticut Association of Boards of
Education (CABE), or his designee, to convene a working group to make
recommendations about consolidating or eliminating obsolete or redundant
professional development requirements (§ 4);
5. requires the Office of Early Childhood (OEC) commissioner to include a
family income provision in state contracts with child care homes and centers
for disadvantaged children (§ 5);
6. adds licensed marriage and family therapists (MFTs) to the list of
professionals about whose employment the State Department of Education
(SDE) must annually survey school boards, and requires the education
commissioner to report the survey results and student-to-worker ratio for
MFTs to the Children’s and Education committees (§ 6);
7. adds MFTs to the new grant program that SDE must create under PA 22-
80, §§ 4 & 5, to hire and retain more school social workers, school
psychologists, school counselors, and nurses (§§ 7 & 8);
8. requires boards of education to provide paraprofessionals with (a) adequate
notice, and training when requested, before attending planning and
placement team (PPT) meetings and (b) access to their students'
individualized education programs (IEPs) (§ 9);
9. adds new duties for any school counselor hired by a board using SDE’s new
grant program established under PA 22-47, § 13 (§ 10); and
10. adds some qualifications for certain members of the task force created by
PA 22-80, § 11, to study the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic
Conference’s (CIAC) governance structure and internal procedures (§ 11).
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2022, except provisions on the following topics take
effect upon passage: the special education funding task force (§ 3), professional
development working group (§ 4), school district employment survey (§ 6), school O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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counselor hiring grants (§ 10), and CIAC task force (§ 11).
§ 1 — RECOVERY HIGH SCHOOLS
The act requires the Connecticut Prevention Network to develop a report about
recovery high schools, if the network is available and willing. According to the act,
recovery high schools are designed specifically for students in recovery from
substance use disorder or co-occurring disorders. The network’s report must
address at least the following topics: (1) how other states have implemented and
integrated recovery high schools into their public school system and (2)
recommendations for establishing and implementing these schools in Connecticut.
The network may consult with regional behavioral health action organizations
while developing its report.
By January 1, 2024, the network must submit its findings and recommendations
to the Department of Education, Department of Mental Health and Addiction
Services, and the Education Committee.
§ 2 — ACCESS TO STUDENT CLASS RANK
By law, any minor student’s parent or legal guardian may request access to
educational, medical, or similar records maintained in the student’s record, so long
as the information is not privileged under state law. The act expands this access to
include the student’s class rank. By law and unchanged by the act, parents or
guardians must submit a written request for this information to the board of
education.
§ 4 — PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKING GROUP
The act requires the CABE executive director, or his designee, to convene a
nine-member working group, if he is available and willing, to examine and make
recommendations about consolidating or eliminating obsolete or redundant
professional development requirements.
Under the act, the group must consist of the education commissioner, or her
designee, along with one representative chosen from each of the following
associations: CABE, Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents,
Connecticut Federation of School Administrators, Connecticut Education
Association, American Federation of Teachers-Connecticut, Connecticut
Association of School Administrators, Connecticut Association of Schools, and
Special Education Equity for Kids of Connecticut.
The group must report to the Education Committee by January 1, 2024, on its
findings and recommendations for legislation to amend the professional
development and in-service training laws.
§ 5 — CHILD CARE HOMES AND CENTERS FOR DISADVANTAGED
CHILDREN
O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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By law, the state through the OEC commissioner may enter into contracts that
provide state financial assistance (i.e., grants) to municipalities, human resource
development agencies, nonprofit corporations, or group or family child care homes
for developing and operating child care homes or centers for disadvantaged
children. Beginning July 1, 2022, the act requires any of these contracts that the
OEC commissioner enters to include a provision requiring at least 60% of the
enrolled children to be from families with incomes at or below 75% of the state
median income.
§§ 6-8 — LICENSED MARRIAGE AND FAMI LY THERAPISTS
School District Employment Survey (§ 6)
PA 22-80, § 3, requires SDE to develop and distribute a survey by July 1, 2023,
within available appropriations that school districts must annually complete about
the number of school social workers, psychologists, counselors, and nurses they
employ. The act adds licensed MFTs’ employment to the survey. Specifically, the
survey must also include information on (1) the number of MFTs employed and
assigned to each school in a district; (2) whether any are assigned to more than one
school, and if so, the geographic area they cover; and (3) an annual estimate of how
many students received direct services from MFTs during the five-year period
before the survey is completed.
After receiving a district’s completed survey, the act requires the education
commissioner to annually calculate the student-to-worker ratio for the MFTs in
each school and each district. Beginning by January 1, 2024, the commissioner
must annually submit a report on the survey’s results and the student-to-worker
ratios to the Children’s and Education committees.
Grant Program for MFT Hiring and Retention (§ 7)
The act adds MFTs to the new grant program that SDE must create under PA
22-80, §§ 4 & 5, for FYs 23 to 25 to hire and retain more school social workers,
school psychologists, school counselors, and nurses.
Applications. PA 22-80 requires grant applications to be filed with the
education commissioner when and how she decides. As part of the application, an
applicant must submit a (1) grant expenditure plan and (2) copy of the completed
survey school board employment survey. The act adds the following information
to the plan requirements for grant applications for MFTs:
1. the number of additional licensed MFTs to be hired;
2. the number of licensed MFTs being retained who were previously hired
with the assistance of these grant funds; and
3. whether the licensed MFTs will conduct student assessments or provide
services to students based on assessment results, and the type of those
services.
Grant Awards. The act requires the commissioner to prioritize school districts
with large student-to-worker ratios for licensed MFTs when determining whether O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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to award a grant to an applicant.
Conforming Changes (§ 8)
The act also makes conforming changes to specify that the grant program
administrator that SDE must hire under PA 22-80, § 5, must also oversee grant
applications for school boards' employment of licensed MFTs.
§ 9 — PARAPROFESSIONALS AND PPT MEETINGS
Under the act, local and regional boards of education must provide adequate
advance notice of a PPT meeting to any paraprofessional assigned to a student
receiving special education services (1) if the parent, guardian, student, or surrogate
parent has requested his or her attendance and (2) so that he or she may adequately
prepare. Additionally, if the paraprofessional requests it, a board must provide
training on his or her role at the meeting. Specifically, these requirements apply to
PPT meetings where a student’s individualized educational program (IEP) is
developed, reviewed, or revised.
The act also requires that the board allow the paraprofessional attending the
PPT meeting, or any other paraprofessional serving the student, to view the IEP
that results from the meeting to be able to provide the student with special education
or related services.
§ 10 — NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR SCHOOL COUNSELOR HIRING
GRANTS
PA 22-47, § 13, requires SDE to administer a grant program for FYs 23-25 to
provide funding to boards of education to hire school mental health specialists,
including school counselors, among others. The act adds a new duty for any school
counselor hired by a board that receives this grant. Under the act, the counselor
must provide one-on-one consultations with each student in grades 11 and 12 about
the completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which
students must submit to higher education institutions to be eligible for federal, state,
or institutional aid.
Additionally under the act, if the employing board can prove to the education
commissioner that the school district’s FAFSA completion rate has increased by at
least 5%, then the board will receive a 10% bonus on top of the grant received in
the fiscal year when the board demonstrated the completion rate increase.
PA 22-47 also requires boards to submit a plan for grant fund spending when
they apply for a grant. In addition to the information required under PA 22-47, the
act requires the plan to describe how the board will implement the FAFSA
counseling requirements and completion rate demonstration.
The act also makes conforming and technical changes.
§ 11 — CIAC TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP
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The act adds some qualifications for certain members of the task force created
by PA 22-80, § 11, to study CIAC’s governance structure and internal procedures.
The act specifies that the (1) House speaker’s appointee must be a coach for a public
school district that is a member of CIAC; (2) House majority leader’s appointee
must be an expert in diversity in sports that is a member of CIAC and (3) Senate
majority leader’s appointee must be an athletic director for a public school district,
rather than any school district, that is a CIAC member.
BACKGROUND
Special Education Services and Funding Task Force
Existing law requires this task force to study, among other things, (1) the cost
of providing special education and related services per school district, along with
its annual percentage increase or decrease; (2) state reimbursement levels to
districts for these costs; and (3) whether boards of education are providing services
directly or partnering with regional education service centers, private providers, or
as part of cooperative arrangements with other districts (PA 21-95, § 3).