LCO No. 5579 1 of 5
General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6882
January Session, 2023
LCO No. 5579
Referred to Committee on EDUCATION
Introduced by:
(ED)
AN ACT CONCERNING MANDATE RELIEF.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2023) The Department of Education 1
shall develop a biennial review process to examine the laws governing 2
education in the general statutes and regulations of Connecticut state 3
agencies for the purpose of identifying obsolete or duplicative mandates 4
on the department or local and regional boards of education. The 5
department may provide an opportunity for public comment or seek 6
input from students, parents, educators, boards of education and other 7
education stakeholders while conducting such review. Not later than 8
January 1, 2024, and every two years thereafter, the Commissioner of 9
Education shall submit a report that includes recommendations for the 10
repeal or revision of such obsolete or duplicative mandates to the joint 11
standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of 12
matters relating to education, in accordance with the provisions of 13
section 11-4a of the general statutes. 14
Sec. 2. (Effective July 1, 2023) (a) There is established an Education 15
Mandates Review Task Force. The task force shall be responsible for 16 Raised Bill No. 6882
LCO No. 5579 2 of 5
reviewing mandates on the Department of Education and local and 17
regional boards of education in the general statutes, regulations of 18
Connecticut state agencies and federal law for the purpose of 19
identifying those mandates which are overly burdensome or have the 20
effect of limiting or restricting the provision of instruction or services to 21
students. The task force shall provide a detailed analysis of each such 22
mandate so identified, including the specific statutory or regulation 23
citation for such mandate and how such mandate is imposed on the 24
department or board of education. The task force may provide 25
recommendations for the repeal of or amendment to any such statute or 26
regulation. 27
(b) The task force shall consist of the following members: 28
(1) One appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, 29
who shall be a representative of the Connecticut Association of Boards 30
of Education; 31
(2) One appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, who 32
shall be a representative of the Connecticut Association of Public School 33
Superintendents; 34
(3) One appointed by the majority leader of the House of 35
Representatives, who shall be a representative of the Connecticut 36
Education Association; 37
(4) One appointed by the majority leader of the Senate, who shall be 38
a representative of the American Federation of Teachers-Connecticut; 39
(5) One appointed by the minority leader of the House of 40
Representatives, who shall be a representative of the Connecticut 41
Association of Schools; 42
(6) One appointed by the minority leader of the Senate, who shall be 43
a representative of the Connecticut Association of School Business 44
Officials; 45
(7) The chairpersons and ranking members of the joint standing 46 Raised Bill No. 6882
LCO No. 5579 3 of 5
committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 47
relating to education; and 48
(8) The Commissioner of Education, or the commissioner's designee. 49
(c) Any member of the task force appointed under subdivision (1), 50
(2), (3), (4), (5) or (6) of subsection (b) of this section may be a member 51
of the General Assembly. 52
(d) All initial appointments to the task force shall be made not later 53
than thirty days after the effective date of this section. Any vacancy shall 54
be filled by the appointing authority. 55
(e) The speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro 56
tempore of the Senate shall select the chairpersons of the task force from 57
among the members of the task force. Such chairpersons shall schedule 58
the first meeting of the task force, which shall be held not later than sixty 59
days after the effective date of this section. 60
(f) The administrative staff of the joint standing committee of the 61
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to education 62
shall serve as administrative staff of the task force. 63
(g) Not later than February 1, 2024, the task force shall submit a report 64
on its review and analysis of such mandates, and any recommendations 65
for repeal of or amendment to such mandates, to the joint standing 66
committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 67
relating to education, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a 68
of the general statutes. The task force shall terminate on the date that it 69
submits such report or July 1, 2024, whichever is later. 70
Sec. 3. Subsection (a) of section 10-220a of the general statutes is 71
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 72
2023): 73
(a) Each local or regional board of education shall provide an in-74
service training program for its teachers, administrators and pupil 75
personnel who hold the initial educator, provisional educator or 76 Raised Bill No. 6882
LCO No. 5579 4 of 5
professional educator certificate. Such program shall provide such 77
teachers, administrators and pupil personnel with information on (1) 78
the nature and the relationship of alcohol and drugs, as defined in 79
subdivision (17) of section 21a-240, to health and personality 80
development, and procedures for discouraging their abuse, (2) health 81
and mental health risk reduction education that includes, but need not 82
be limited to, the prevention of risk-taking behavior by children and the 83
relationship of such behavior to substance abuse, pregnancy, sexually 84
transmitted diseases, including HIV-infection and AIDS, as defined in 85
section 19a-581, violence, teen dating violence, domestic violence and 86
child abuse, (3) school violence prevention, conflict resolution, the 87
prevention of and response to youth suicide and the identification and 88
prevention of and response to bullying, as defined in subsection (a) of 89
section 10-222d, except that (A) those boards of education that 90
implement any evidence-based model approach that is approved by the 91
Department of Education and is consistent with subsection (c) of section 92
10-145a, sections 10-222d, 10-222g and 10-222h, subsection (g) of section 93
10-233c and sections 1 and 3 of public act 08-160, shall not be required 94
to provide in-service training on the identification and prevention of 95
and response to bullying, and (B) such school violence prevention 96
training be in a manner prescribed in a school security and safety plan, 97
in accordance with the provisions of section 10-222n, (4) 98
cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other emergency life saving 99
procedures, (5) the requirements and obligations of a mandated 100
reporter, (6) the detection and recognition of, and evidence-based 101
structured literacy interventions for, students with dyslexia, as defined 102
in section 10-3d, (7) culturally responsive pedagogy and practice, 103
including, but not limited to, the video training module relating to 104
implicit bias and anti-bias in the hiring process in accordance with the 105
provisions of section 10-156hh, and (8) the principles and practices of 106
social-emotional learning and restorative practices. Each local or 107
regional board of education may allow any [paraprofessional] 108
paraeducator or noncertified employee to participate, on a voluntary 109
basis, in any in-service training program provided pursuant to this 110
section. 111 Raised Bill No. 6882
LCO No. 5579 5 of 5
Sec. 4. Subsection (c) of section 10-221a of the general statutes is 112
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 113
passage): 114
(c) Commencing with classes graduating in 2023, and for each 115
graduating class thereafter, no local or regional board of education shall 116
permit any student to graduate from high school or grant a diploma to 117
any student who has not satisfactorily completed a minimum of twenty-118
five credits, including not fewer than: (1) Nine credits in the humanities, 119
including civics and the arts; (2) nine credits in science, technology, 120
engineering and mathematics; (3) one credit in physical education and 121
wellness; (4) one credit in health and safety education, as described in 122
section 10-16b; and (5) one credit in world languages, subject to the 123
provisions of subsection (g) of this section. [; and (6) a one credit 124
mastery-based diploma assessment.] 125
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2023 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2023 New section
Sec. 3 July 1, 2023 10-220a(a)
Sec. 4 from passage 10-221a(c)
Statement of Purpose:
To (1) require the Department of Education to conduct a review of the
education laws every two years to identify obsolete and duplicative
mandates on the department and boards of education; (2) establish the
Education Mandates Review Task Force to review and make
recommendations concerning the repeal of or amendment to education
mandates that are overly burdensome; (3) align existing in-service
training requirements concerning school violence prevention training
with those required under school security and safety plans; and (4)
eliminate the completion of a capstone project as part of the high school
graduation requirements.
[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.]