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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statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 2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
APP Joint Favorable