Connecticut 2022 2022 Regular Session

Connecticut Senate Bill SB00231 Comm Sub / Bill

Filed 03/30/2022

                     
 
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General Assembly  Substitute Bill No. 231  
February Session, 2022 
 
 
 
 
 
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statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 2 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 
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  Substitute Bill No. 231 
 
 
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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 
this state for any purpose consistent with this section and sections 10-47 
357a, 10-357c and 10-357d; 48  Substitute Bill No. 231 
 
 
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(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 60 
dispose of real property and [lease,] convey or deal in or enter into 61 
agreements with respect to such property on any terms necessary or 62 
incidental to carrying out the purposes of this section and sections 10-63 
357a, 10-357c and 10-357d, provided such transactions shall be subject 64 
to approval, review or regulation by any state agency pursuant to title 65 
4b or any other provision of the general statutes; 66 
(10) Lease real property on any terms necessary or incidental to 67 
carrying out the purposes of this section and sections 10-357a, 10-357c 68 
and 10-357d; 69 
[(10)] (11) Procure insurance against any liability or loss in connection 70 
with its property and other assets, in such amounts and from such 71 
insurers as it deems desirable and to procure insurance for employees; 72 
[(11)] (12) Account for and audit funds of the center and funds of any 73 
recipients of funds from the center; 74 
[(12)] (13) Hold patents, copyrights, trademarks, marketing rights, 75 
licenses, or any other evidences of protection or exclusivity as to any 76 
products as defined in this section and sections 10-357a, 10-357c and 10-77 
357d, issued under the laws of the United States or any state or any 78 
nation; 79  Substitute Bill No. 231 
 
 
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[(13)] (14) Establish advisory committees to assist in accomplishing 80 
its duties under this section and sections 10-357a, 10-357c and 10-357d, 81 
which may include one or more members of the board of directors and 82 
persons other than members; and 83 
[(14)] (15) Do all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out 84 
the purposes of this section and sections 10-357a, 10-357c and 10-357d, 85 
and the powers expressly granted by this section and sections 10-357a, 86 
10-357c and 10-357d. 87 
(b) The State Education Resource Center shall establish a Connecticut 88 
School Reform Resource Center either within the State Education 89 
Resource Center or by contract through a regional educational service 90 
center, established pursuant to section 10-66a. The Connecticut School 91 
Reform Resource Center shall operate year-round and shall focus on 92 
serving the needs of all public schools. The Connecticut School Reform 93 
Resource Center shall (1) publish and distribute reports on the most 94 
effective practices for improving student achievement by successful 95 
schools; (2) provide a program of professional development activities 96 
for (A) school leaders, including curriculum coordinators, principals, 97 
superintendents and board of education members, and (B) teachers to 98 
educate students that includes research-based child development and 99 
reading instruction tools and practices; (3) provide information on 100 
successful models for evaluating student performance and managing 101 
student data; (4) develop strategies for assisting such students who are 102 
in danger of failing; (5) develop culturally relevant methods for 103 
educating students whose primary language is not English; and (6) 104 
provide other programs and materials to assist in the improvement of 105 
public schools. 106 
(c) The State Education Resource Center shall be subject to (1) rules, 107 
regulations and restrictions on purchasing, procurement, personal 108 
service agreements and the disposition of assets generally applicable to 109 
Connecticut state agencies, including those contained in titles 4, 4a and 110 
4b and section 4e-19, and (2) audit by the Auditors of Public Accounts 111 
under chapter 12 and section 2-90. 112  Substitute Bill No. 231 
 
 
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Sec. 2. Section 10-357e of the general statutes is repealed and the 113 
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2022): 114 
The Commissioner of Education [may] shall allocate funds to [allow] 115 
the State Education Resource Center, established pursuant to section 10-116 
357a, in an amount that is sufficient for the center to operate and to 117 
provide professional development services, technical assistance and 118 
evaluation activities, policy analysis and other forms of assistance to 119 
local and regional boards of education, the Department of Education, 120 
state and local charter schools, as defined in section 10-66aa, the 121 
Technical Education and Career System, established pursuant to section 122 
10-95, providers of school readiness programs, as defined in section 10-123 
16p, and other educational entities and providers. The State Education 124 
Resource Center shall expend such funds in accordance with procedures 125 
and conditions prescribed by the commissioner. 126 
Sec. 3. Subsection (k) of section 10-266aa of the 2022 supplement to 127 
the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 128 
thereof (Effective July 1, 2022): 129 
(k) On or before March first of each year, the Commissioner of 130 
Education shall determine if the enrollment in the program pursuant to 131 
subsection (c) of this section for the fiscal year is below the number of 132 
students for which funds were appropriated. If the commissioner 133 
determines that the enrollment is below such number, the additional 134 
funds shall not lapse but shall be used by the commissioner in 135 
accordance with this subsection. 136 
(1) Any amount up to and including five hundred thousand dollars 137 
of such nonlapsing funds shall be [used for supplemental grants to 138 
receiving districts on a pro rata basis for each out-of-district student in 139 
the program pursuant to subsection (c) of this section who attends the 140 
same school in the receiving district as at least nine other such out-of-141 
district students, not to exceed one thousand dollars per student] paid 142 
to the State Education Resource Center, established pursuant to section 143 
10-357a, to provide professional development to certified employees, in 144  Substitute Bill No. 231 
 
 
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accordance with the provisions of section 10-148a, and training for other 145 
school personnel in receiving districts. 146 
(2) Any amount of such nonlapsing funds [equal to or] greater than 147 
five hundred thousand dollars, but less than one million dollars, shall 148 
be used for supplemental grants, in an amount determined by the 149 
commissioner, on a pro rata basis to receiving districts that report to the 150 
commissioner on or before March first of the current school year that the 151 
number of out-of-district students enrolled in such receiving district is 152 
greater than the number of out-of-district students enrolled in such 153 
receiving district from the previous school year. 154 
(3) Any remaining nonlapsing funds shall be used by the 155 
commissioner to increase enrollment in the interdistrict public school 156 
attendance program described in this section. 157 
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 
Sec. 3 July 1, 2022 10-266aa(k) 
 
ED Joint Favorable Subst. C/R 	APP