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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5451
February Session, 2024
LCO No. 2671
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
AN ACT CONCERNING IMMIGRANT AND MULTILINGUAL LEARNER
ACCESS TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2024) There is established an 1
Advocate for Immigrant and Multilingual Learner Families within the 2
Department of Education. The Commissioner of Education shall 3
appoint an individual who is an immigrant or multilingual learner of 4
not less than sixteen years of age, or the parent, guardian or familial 5
caretaker of an immigrant or multilingual learner, to serve as the 6
advocate. The State Board of Education shall reserve not less than ten 7
minutes within the first hour of any of its meetings for the advocate to 8
report on issues related to immigrants and multilingual learners in the 9
state. The advocate shall not be compensated for his or her services but 10
shall be reimbursed for any necessary expenses incurred in the 11
performance of the advocate's duties. 12
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2024) (a) Except as provided in 13
subsection (b) of this section, the local or regional board of education for 14 Raised Bill No. 5451
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a school district with a total population containing two per cent or more 15
immigrants or multilingual learners shall establish the position of 16
Advocate for Immigrant and Multilingual Learner Families. The 17
superintendent of such local or regional board of education shall 18
appoint an individual who is an immigrant or multilingual learner of 19
not less than sixteen years of age, or the parent, guardian or familial 20
caretaker of an immigrant or multilingual learner, to serve as the 21
advocate, subject to the approval of a majority vote of the board of 22
education. The board of education shall reserve not less than ten 23
minutes within the first hour of any of its meetings for the advocate to 24
report on issues related to immigrants and multilingual learners in the 25
school district. The advocate shall not be compensated for his or her 26
services but shall be reimbursed for any necessary expenses incurred in 27
the performance of the advocate's duties. 28
(b) In lieu of appointing an advocate as described in subsection (a) of 29
this section, a local or regional board of education that is subject to the 30
requirements of subsection (a) of this section may establish a nonvoting 31
seat on such board designated for an individual with the same 32
qualifications as required under said subsection for the advocate. 33
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2024 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2024 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To establish the position of Advocate for Immigrant and Multilingual
Learner Families to participate in meetings of the State Board of
Education and certain local and regional boards of education meetings.
[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.]