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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 231
February Session, 2022
LCO No. 1838
Referred to Committee on EDUCATION
Introduced by:
(ED)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE STATE EDUCATION RESOURCE
CENTER.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 10-357b of the 2022 supplement to the general 1
statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 2
(Effective July 1, 2022): 3
(a) The purposes of the State Education Resource Center, established 4
pursuant to section 10-357a, shall be to assist the State Board of 5
Education in the provision of programs and activities that will promote 6
educational equity and excellence. Such activities shall be limited to: 7
Training, technical assistance and professional development for local 8
and regional boards of education, school leaders, teachers, families and 9
community partners in the form of seminars, publications, site visits, on-10
line content and other appropriate means; maintaining a state education 11
resource center library; publication of technical materials; research and 12
evaluation; writing, managing, administering and coordinating grants 13
for the purposes described in this subsection; and any other related 14
activities directly related to the purposes described in this subsection. 15 Raised Bill No. 231
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The center shall support local educational agencies serving the needs of 16
families, communities and service providers. The center [may] shall 17
support programs and activities concerning early childhood education, 18
in collaboration with the Office of Early Childhood, improving school 19
and district academic performance, and closing [academic achievement] 20
opportunity gaps between socio-economic subgroups, and other related 21
programs and activities. The center shall support and collaborate with 22
other state agencies for the purposes described in this subsection. For 23
such purposes the center is authorized and empowered to: 24
(1) Have perpetual succession as a body politic and corporate and to 25
adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its 26
business; 27
(2) Adopt an official seal and alter the same at pleasure; 28
(3) Maintain an office at such place or places as it may designate; 29
(4) Sue and be sued in its own name and plead and be impleaded; 30
(5) (A) Employ such assistants, agents and other employees as may 31
be necessary or desirable who shall not be employees, as defined in 32
subsection (b) of section 5-270; (B) establish all necessary or appropriate 33
personnel practices and policies, including those relating to hiring, 34
promotion, compensation, retirement and collective bargaining, which 35
need not be in accordance with chapter 68, and the center shall not be 36
an employer as defined in subsection (a) of section 5-270; and (C) engage 37
consultants, attorneys and appraisers as may be necessary or desirable 38
to carry out its purposes in accordance with this section and sections 10-39
357a, 10-357c and 10-357d; 40
(6) Receive and accept aid or contributions from any source of money, 41
property, labor or other things of value, to be held, used and applied to 42
carry out the purposes of this section and sections 10-357a, 10-357c and 43
10-357d, subject to such conditions upon which such grants and 44
contributions may be made, including, but not limited to, gifts or grants 45
from any department, agency or instrumentality of the United States or 46 Raised Bill No. 231
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this state for any purpose consistent with this section and sections 10-47
357a, 10-357c and 10-357d; 48
(7) Make and enter into all contracts and agreements necessary or 49
incidental to the performance of its duties and the execution of its 50
powers under this section and sections 10-357a, 10-357c and 10-357d, 51
including contracts and agreements for such professional services as the 52
center deems necessary, including, but not limited to, those services 53
provided by financial consultants, underwriters and technical 54
specialists; 55
(8) Acquire, lease, purchase, own, manage, hold and dispose of 56
personal property, and lease, convey or deal in or enter into agreements 57
with respect to such property on any terms necessary or incidental to 58
the carrying out of these purposes; 59
(9) Invest in, acquire, lease, purchase, own, manage, hold and dispose 60
of real property and lease, convey or deal in or enter into agreements 61
with respect to such property on any terms necessary or incidental to 62
carrying out the purposes of this section and sections 10-357a, 10-357c 63
and 10-357d, provided such transactions shall be subject to approval, 64
review or regulation by any state agency pursuant to title 4b or any other 65
provision of the general statutes; 66
(10) Procure insurance against any liability or loss in connection with 67
its property and other assets, in such amounts and from such insurers 68
as it deems desirable and to procure insurance for employees; 69
(11) Account for and audit funds of the center and funds of any 70
recipients of funds from the center; 71
(12) Hold patents, copyrights, trademarks, marketing rights, licenses, 72
or any other evidences of protection or exclusivity as to any products as 73
defined in this section and sections 10-357a, 10-357c and 10-357d, issued 74
under the laws of the United States or any state or any nation; 75
(13) Establish advisory committees to assist in accomplishing its 76 Raised Bill No. 231
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duties under this section and sections 10-357a, 10-357c and 10-357d, 77
which may include one or more members of the board of directors and 78
persons other than members; and 79
(14) Do all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out the 80
purposes of this section and sections 10-357a, 10-357c and 10-357d, and 81
the powers expressly granted by this section and sections 10-357a, 10-82
357c and 10-357d. 83
(b) The State Education Resource Center shall establish a Connecticut 84
School Reform Resource Center either within the State Education 85
Resource Center or by contract through a regional educational service 86
center, established pursuant to section 10-66a. The Connecticut School 87
Reform Resource Center shall operate year-round and shall focus on 88
serving the needs of all public schools. The Connecticut School Reform 89
Resource Center shall (1) publish and distribute reports on the most 90
effective practices for improving student achievement by successful 91
schools; (2) provide a program of professional development activities 92
for (A) school leaders, including curriculum coordinators, principals, 93
superintendents and board of education members, and (B) teachers to 94
educate students that includes research-based child development and 95
reading instruction tools and practices; (3) provide information on 96
successful models for evaluating student performance and managing 97
student data; (4) develop strategies for assisting such students who are 98
in danger of failing; (5) develop culturally relevant methods for 99
educating students whose primary language is not English; and (6) 100
provide other programs and materials to assist in the improvement of 101
public schools. 102
(c) The State Education Resource Center shall be subject to [(1) rules, 103
regulations and restrictions on purchasing, procurement, personal 104
service agreements and the disposition of assets generally applicable to 105
Connecticut state agencies, including those contained in titles 4, 4a and 106
4b and section 4e-19, and (2)] audit by the Auditors of Public Accounts 107
under chapter 12 and section 2-90. 108 Raised Bill No. 231
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Sec. 2. Section 10-357e of the general statutes is repealed and the 109
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2022): 110
The Commissioner of Education [may] shall allocate funds to [allow] 111
the State Education Resource Center, established pursuant to section 10-112
357a, in an amount that is sufficient for the center to operate and to 113
provide professional development services, technical assistance and 114
evaluation activities, policy analysis and other forms of assistance to 115
local and regional boards of education, the Department of Education, 116
state and local charter schools, as defined in section 10-66aa, the 117
Technical Education and Career System, established pursuant to section 118
10-95, providers of school readiness programs, as defined in section 10-119
16p, and other educational entities and providers. The State Education 120
Resource Center shall expend such funds in accordance with procedures 121
and conditions prescribed by the commissioner. 122
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2022 10-357b
Sec. 2 July 1, 2022 10-357e
Statement of Purpose:
To make certain revisions to the enabling statute of the State Education
Resource Center and to require the Commissioner of Education to
allocate funding to the center that is sufficient for the center to operate
and perform its duties.
[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.]