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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 6880
AN ACT CONCERNING ASSORTED REVISIONS AND ADDITIONS
TO THE EDUCATION STATUTES.
SUMMARY
This bill makes the following unrelated changes in the education
statutes:
1. requires local and regional boards of education (boards of
education) to make curriculum approved by their school district
curriculum committee, as well as all associated curriculum
materials, available to parents and guardians under the
requirements of the federal Protection of Pupil Rights
Amendment (see BACKGROUND) (§ 1);
2. requires boards of education to post a notice online, in the school
cafeteria, and other central areas of food consumption in each
school that states that the lunch, breakfast, and other school-
provided meals comply with federal nutr itional value
requirements (see BACKGROUND ) (§ 2);
3. allows any parent under age 17, rather than only a mother, to
request permission from the local or regional board of education
to attend adult education classes (§ 3);
4. (a) requires the State Department of Education (SDE), when
developing a plan for a statewide remote learning school, to
narrow the range of students eligible to enroll and (b) extends the
deadline to submit the plan to legislative committees (§ 4);
5. requires boards of education conducting a regular or special
board meeting to make the agenda or any associated documents
that members will review at the meeting available for public
inspection and post them on the board’s website (§ 5); 2023HB-06880-R000590-BA.DOCX
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6. requires the education commissioner to appoint a parent
advisory committee and a separate teacher advisory committee
to address SDE’s policy development and implementation (§ 6);
7. requires in-service trainings for teachers, administrators, and
certified pupil personnel to include emergency responses to
students who have a seizure in a school (§ 7);
8. requires SDE to support after school grant recipients in new,
specified ways and allows the department to increase the amount
it retains from the appropriation for this grant program (§ 8);
9. removes certain restrictions and state oversight on real estate
transactions, contracting, and procurement by the State
Educational Resource Center (SERC) (§ 9);
10. requires, rather than allows, SDE to allocate funding to SERC and
specifies that the funding must be sufficient for SERC to provide
services to various educational entities, providers, and SDE (see
BACKGROUND) (§ 10);
11. extends the deadline for boards of education to begin providing
free menstrual products in restrooms by one year, from
September 1, 2023, to September 1, 2024 (§ 11); and
12. expands the Connecticut Teachers’ Retirement System to cover
teachers employed by an interdistrict magnet school operated by
(1) a private higher education institution’s board of governors;
(2) an SDE-approved, third-party nonprofit corporation; or (3)
Goodwin University Magnet Schools, Inc. and Goodwin
University Educational Services, Inc., specifically (§§ 12 & 13).
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2023
§ 4 — ELIGIBILITY FOR STATEWIDE REMOTE LEARNIN G SCHOOL
Under current law, SDE must develop a plan to create and implement
a statewide remote learning school for grades kindergarten to 12. When
making the plan, the department must estimate the number of 2023HB-06880-R000590-BA.DOCX
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Connecticut students who may be eligible to enroll; however, current
law does not require the department to set specific enrollment eligibility
requirements. The bill instead limits eligibility to Connecticut students
who are unable to attend school in-person due to a medical condition or
vaccination status.
The bill also extends the deadline for submitting the plan, draft
requests for proposals, and any legislation recommendations from July
1, 2023, to January 1, 2024. By law, SDE must submit these items to the
Appropriations and Education committees.
§ 6 — PARENT AND TEACHER A DVISORY COMMITTEES
The bill creates advisory committee duties, membership
requirements, term length, and compensation.
Duties
Under the bill, both the parent advisory committee and the teacher
advisory committee have the following duties:
1. advise SDE’s commissioner, administrators, and staff;
2. hold meetings at least quarterly and at least twice in-person each
year;
3. make recommendations on topics determined with department
administrators, including teacher recruitment, special education,
testing and assessment, equitable teacher distribution, teacher
diversity, school safety, and social and emotional learning;
4. submit annual reports summarizing the committee’s work to
SDE; and
5. consult with department administrators on the report or any
recommendations produced, as needed.
Membership
The bill requires the committees to each have at least 10 members.
The education commissioner must appoint the members from a pool of
applications submitted to SDE using an application process she 2023HB-06880-R000590-BA.DOCX
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determines. When appointing members, the commissioner must aim to
create a committee that represents the (1) diversity of Connecticut’s
teachers and students and (2) areas of expertise designated by
department administrators. She must also consult with any existing
parent advisory committee and teacher advisory committee.
The commissioner must only appoint members who have the
following qualifications:
1. an understanding of current issues in public education;
2. experience working in educational policy;
3. either an exceptional instructional practice with an ability to
engage students as a teacher, or a demonstrated history of
holding parent leadership roles in schools or advocacy groups;
and
4. applied to SDE’s Talent Office for membership on one of these
committees.
Teacher Advisory Committee Members. For the teacher
committee, the members must also be regular or special education
teachers in Connecticut. At least five of them must have also been
members of the Connecticut Teacher of the Year Council as a finalist or
semifinalist in any year.
Parent Advisory Committee Members. For the parent committee,
the members must also include members who represent urban,
suburban, and rural school districts and elementary, middle, and high
schools.
Term Length
Under the bill, for the initial appointments to both committees, at
least five members of each committee serve a one-year term from the
appointment date, and the remaining five members serve a two-year
term. After the initial terms expire, members must be appointed for two-
year terms from the date of appointment. 2023HB-06880-R000590-BA.DOCX
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The bill allows members to be appointed for more than one term but
requires them to reapply for each new term. It also requires members to
continue to serve until their successors are appointed. The education
commissioner must fill any vacancy that occurs before a term’s
expiration by choosing from the committee’s existing applicant pool.
The new member then serves for the balance of the unexpired term.
Compensation
The bill requires the parent and teacher advisory groups’ members to
serve without compensation, but SDE must reimburse for the following,
if funds are available:
1. members’ expenses necessarily incurred in performing their
duties and
2. local or regional board of educations’ payments to substitute
teachers who cover for teachers who are members of an advisory
group, while performing advisory committee duties.
§ 7 — IN-SERVICE TRAINING TOPIC
By law, boards of education must have an in-service training
program for their teachers, administrators, and certified pupil
personnel; paraprofessional and noncertified employees may also
participate voluntarily. Current law requires training on eight topics,
and the bill adds a ninth: emergency response to students who
experience a seizure in a school. This training must at least include (1)
recognizing seizure signs and symptoms, (2) appropriate steps for
seizure first aid, (3) information about seizure action plans for students,
and (4) administering seizure rescue medication or prescribed Vagus
Nerve Stimulator magnet electrical stimulation for those authorized to
administer medication under state law.
§ 8 — SUPPORT FOR AFTER SC HOOL GRANT RECIPIENT S
By law, SDE may administer an after school grant program to support
programs for students in grades kindergarten through 12 that offer
educational, enrichment, and recreational activities for children and
have a parent involvement component. Local and regional boards of 2023HB-06880-R000590-BA.DOCX
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education, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations are eligible
recipients (CGS § 10-16x(a)).
Current law requires SDE to give after school grant recipients
technical assistance, evaluation, program monitoring, professional
development, and accreditation support. The bill requires the
department to collaborate with regional educational service centers to
give the recipients (and, for some forms, applicants) more specific and
targeted forms of support by doing the following:
1. monitoring and evaluating programs and activities,
2. conducting a comprehensive evaluation of programs’
effectiveness,
3. implementing risk assessments,
4. providing technical assistance and training to eligible applicants,
and
5. ensuring program activities are aligned with state academic
standards.
The bill also allows SDE to increase the percentage of appropriated
grant funds it retains, from 4% to 7.5%, to provide this support.
§ 9 — SERC REAL ESTATE AND CONTRACTING
SERC, a quasi-public agency, was statutorily created to help the State
Board of Education provide programs and activities that promote
educational equity and excellence. Current law authorizes SERC to
make certain transactions involving real estate (e.g., investing in it,
buying, selling, or managing it, or entering agreements over it). The bill
removes the requirement that these transactions be subject to state
agency approval, review, or regulation to comply with any
requirements in state law (including those governing state real estate
overseen by the Department of Administrative Services).
It also removes SERC from being subject to the following rules,
regulations, and restrictions on purchasing, procurement, personal 2023HB-06880-R000590-BA.DOCX
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service agreements, and asset dispositions:
1. those generally applicable to state agencies;
2. Title 4, which governs the management of state agencies (CGS §§
4-1 to 4-289);
3. Title 4a, which governs administrative services (CGS §§ 4a-1 to
4a-101);
4. Title 4b, which governs state real estate (CGS §§ 4b-1 to 4b-136);
and
5. the law governing permissible methods for awarding contracts
for supplies, materials, equipment, and contractual services (CGS
§ 4e-19).
By law and unchanged by the bill, SERC remains subject to state audit
by the Auditors of Public Accounts.
§§ 12 & 13 — ADDITIONS TO THE TEA CHERS’ RETIREMENT
SYSTEM
By law, teachers employed at a “public school,” as defined in state
law, may participate in the Connecticut Teachers’ Retirement System
(TRS). The bill adds to the definition of “public school” any interdistrict
magnet school that is operated by (1) a private higher education
institution’s board of governors or (2) an SDE-approved, third-party
nonprofit corporation, so long as the magnet school is classified as a
public school by the Teachers’ Retirement Board (TRB).
The bill also requires the TRB to (1) classify as public schools all
schools operated by Goodwin University Magnet Schools, Inc. and
Goodwin University Educational Services, Inc. and (2) admit each
teacher employed at them.
BACKGROUND
Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA)
PPRA, in part, gives parents and guardians the right to inspect
instructional material used by the school district as part of their 2023HB-06880-R000590-BA.DOCX
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student’s educational curriculum (excluding academic tests and
assessments) (20 U.S.C. § 1232h).
Federal Nutritional Meal Requirements
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has established nutritional
standards for the national school lunch and breakfast programs (7 C.F.R.
Parts 210 and 220).
SERC Services
SDE funding allows SERC to provide professional development
services, technical assistance, evaluation activities, and policy analysis
to (1) local and regional boards of education, (2) SDE, (3) charter schools,
(4) the Technical Education and Career System, (5) school readiness
program providers, and (6) other educational entities and providers.
SERC must spend the funding consistent with the education
commissioner’s procedures and conditions (CGS § 10-357e).
COMMITTEE ACTION
Education Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 44 Nay 0 (03/24/2023)