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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6882
January Session, 2023
AN ACT CONCERNING EDUCATION 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
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 Substitute Bill No. 6882
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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
committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 47
relating to education; and 48 Substitute Bill No. 6882
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(8) The Commissioner of Education, or the commissioner's designee. 49
(c) All initial appointments to the task force shall be made not later 50
than thirty days after the effective date of this section. Any vacancy shall 51
be filled by the appointing authority. 52
(d) The speaker of the House of Representatives and the president 53
pro tempore of the Senate shall select the chairpersons of the task force 54
from among the members of the task force. Such chairpersons shall 55
schedule the first meeting of the task force, which shall be held not later 56
than sixty days after the effective date of this section. 57
(e) The administrative staff of the joint standing committee of the 58
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to education 59
shall serve as administrative staff of the task force. 60
(f) Not later than February 1, 2024, the task force shall submit a report 61
on its review and analysis of such mandates, and any recommendations 62
for repeal of or amendment to any state mandates, to the joint standing 63
committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 64
relating to education, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a 65
of the general statutes. The task force shall terminate on the date that it 66
submits such report or July 1, 2024, whichever is later. 67
Sec. 3. Subsection (a) of section 10-220a of the general statutes is 68
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 69
2023): 70
(a) Each local or regional board of education shall provide an in-71
service training program for its teachers, administrators and pupil 72
personnel who hold the initial educator, provisional educator or 73
professional educator certificate. Such program shall provide such 74
teachers, administrators and pupil personnel with information on (1) 75
the nature and the relationship of alcohol and drugs, as defined in 76
subdivision (17) of section 21a-240, to health and personality 77
development, and procedures for discouraging their abuse, (2) health 78
and mental health risk reduction education that includes, but need not 79 Substitute Bill No. 6882
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be limited to, the prevention of risk-taking behavior by children and the 80
relationship of such behavior to substance abuse, pregnancy, sexually 81
transmitted diseases, including HIV-infection and AIDS, as defined in 82
section 19a-581, violence, teen dating violence, domestic violence and 83
child abuse, (3) school violence prevention, conflict resolution, the 84
prevention of and response to youth suicide and the identification and 85
prevention of and response to bullying, as defined in subsection (a) of 86
section 10-222d, except that (A) those boards of education that 87
implement any evidence-based model approach that is approved by the 88
Department of Education and is consistent with subsection (c) of section 89
10-145a, sections 10-222d, 10-222g and 10-222h, subsection (g) of section 90
10-233c and sections 1 and 3 of public act 08-160, shall not be required 91
to provide in-service training on the identification and prevention of 92
and response to bullying, and (B) such school violence prevention 93
training shall be in a manner prescribed in a school security and safety 94
plan, in accordance with the provisions of section 10-222n, (4) 95
cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other emergency life saving 96
procedures, (5) the requirements and obligations of a mandated 97
reporter, (6) the detection and recognition of, and evidence-based 98
structured literacy interventions for, students with dyslexia, as defined 99
in section 10-3d, (7) culturally responsive pedagogy and practice, 100
including, but not limited to, the video training module relating to 101
implicit bias and anti-bias in the hiring process in accordance with the 102
provisions of section 10-156hh, and (8) the principles and practices of 103
social-emotional learning and restorative practices. Each local or 104
regional board of education may allow any [paraprofessional] 105
paraeducator or noncertified employee to participate, on a voluntary 106
basis, in any in-service training program provided pursuant to this 107
section. 108
Sec. 4. Subsection (c) of section 10-221a of the general statutes is 109
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 110
passage): 111
(c) Commencing with classes graduating in 2023, and for each 112 Substitute Bill No. 6882
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graduating class thereafter, no local or regional board of education shall 113
permit any student to graduate from high school or grant a diploma to 114
any student who has not satisfactorily completed a minimum of twenty-115
five credits, including not fewer than: (1) Nine credits in the humanities, 116
including civics and the arts; (2) nine credits in science, technology, 117
engineering and mathematics; (3) one credit in physical education and 118
wellness; (4) one credit in health and safety education, as described in 119
section 10-16b; and (5) one credit in world languages, subject to the 120
provisions of subsection (g) of this section. [; and (6)] A local or regional 121
board of education may require a student to complete a one credit 122
mastery-based diploma assessment in order to graduate from high 123
school or be granted a diploma.124
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 Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 2, Subsec. (c) was deleted for proper form, and in Subsec. (f),
"such mandates" was changed to "any state mandates", for accuracy; in
Section 3(a)(3)(B), "training be in" was changed to "training shall be in",
for clarity.
ED Joint Favorable Subst.