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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 7216
January Session, 2025
AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE
TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND CAREER SYSTEM.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 10-95r of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2025): 2
(a) The Technical Education and Career System shall be under the 3
direction of the executive director of the Technical Education and Career 4
System, whose appointment shall be made by the Governor. Such 5
appointment shall be in accordance with the provisions of sections 4-5 6
to 4-8, inclusive. Any person appointed to be the executive director shall 7
have experience with educational systems. The executive director of the 8
Technical Education and Career System shall be responsible for the 9
operation, supervision and administration and the financial 10
accountability and oversight of the Technical Education and Career 11
System in matters relating to the central office, system-wide 12
management and other noneducational matters. The executive director 13
shall organize the Technical Education and Career System into such 14
bureaus, divisions and other units as may be necessary for the efficient 15
conduct of the business of the system, and may, from time to time, 16
create, abolish, transfer or consolidate within the system any bureau, 17
division or other unit as may be necessary for the efficient conduct of 18
the business of the system. The executive director may appoint, and may 19 Substitute Bill No. 7216
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prescribe the duties of any subordinates, agents and employees as he or 20
she finds necessary in the conduct of the system. 21
(b) The executive director shall review and approve all contracts for 22
the Technical Education and Career System. 23
(c) The executive director may enter into cooperative arrangements 24
with local and regional boards of education, [private career schools] a 25
nonprofit training institute in the state that provides training in the 26
building trades to underserved populations, institutions of higher 27
education, job training agencies and employers in order to provide (1) 28
general education, (2) vocational, technical, technological or 29
postsecondary education, and (3) work experience. 30
(d) The executive director may, upon approval of the board, accept 31
gifts, grants and donations on behalf of the system, including, but not 32
limited to, in-kind donations, designated for the purchase of equipment 33
or materials, the hiring of teachers at a technical education and career 34
school or the acquisition of real property and the construction of 35
facilities, except no employee of the system may accept any gift, grant 36
or donation as an individual, or on behalf of the system, that is for 37
personal use. Any gift, grant or donation accepted on behalf of the 38
system shall be in accordance with the state code of ethics for public 39
officials set forth in chapter 10. The executive director shall submit 40
quarterly reports to the Office of Policy and Management concerning all 41
gifts, grants or donations received pursuant to this subsection. 42
(e) The executive director shall ensure that the superintendent of the 43
Technical Education and Career System establishes a master schedule 44
for the Technical Education and Career System and may amend such 45
master schedule from time to time. 46
(f) The executive director shall communicate directly with the 47
Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management when requesting the 48
creation or filling of staff positions included in the operating budget for 49
the Technical Education and Career System. When reviewing such 50
requests, priority shall be given to any request for instructional staff, as 51 Substitute Bill No. 7216
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identified in the statement of staffing needs submitted by the 52
superintendent of the Technical Education and Career System pursuant 53
to section 10-99g, and every effort shall be made to avoid interruption 54
to instructional time during such review. The secretary shall review and 55
approve a request for the filling of instructional staff positions not later 56
than thirty days after the date the statement of staffing needs is 57
submitted for such positions by the superintendent. 58
(g) If the New England Association of Schools and Colleges places a 59
technical education and career school on probation or otherwise notifies 60
the superintendent of the Technical Education and Career System that a 61
technical education and career school is at risk of losing its accreditation, 62
the executive director shall notify the Commissioner of Education and 63
the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having 64
cognizance of matters relating to education of such placement or 65
problems relating to accreditation. 66
Sec. 2. Section 10a-174 of the general statutes is repealed and the 67
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2025): 68
(a) As used in this section: 69
(1) "Award" means the greater of: (A) The unpaid portion, if any, of a 70
qualifying student's eligible institutional costs after subtracting his or 71
her financial aid, or (B) a minimum award of five hundred dollars for a 72
full-time student or three hundred dollars for a part-time student; 73
(2) "Eligible institutional costs" means the tuition and required fees 74
incurred each semester by an individual student that are established by 75
the Board of Regents for Higher Education for the regional community-76
technical colleges or the Connecticut Technical Education and Career 77
System for adult education programs; 78
(3) "Financial aid" means the sum of all scholarships, grants and 79
federal, state and institutional aid received by a qualifying student. 80
"Financial aid" does not include any federal, state or private student 81
loans received by a qualifying student; 82 Substitute Bill No. 7216
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(4) "Qualifying student" means any person who (A) graduated from 83
a public or nonpublic high school, (B) enrolls as a full-time or part-time 84
student for [the fall semester of 2020, or] any semester [thereafter,] at a 85
regional community-technical college in a program leading to a degree 86
or certificate or at a technical education and career school in an adult 87
education program, (C) is classified as an in-state student pursuant to 88
section 10a-29, (D) is making satisfactory academic progress while 89
enrolled at a regional community-technical college or technical 90
education and career school, (E) has completed the Free Application for 91
Federal Student Aid, and (F) has accepted all available financial aid or 92
is a transition program student; 93
(5) "Full-time student" means a student who is enrolled at a regional 94
community-technical college or a technical education and career school 95
and (A) is carrying twelve or more credit hours in a semester, or (B) has 96
a learning disability documented with the regional community-97
technical college or technical education and career school in which he or 98
she is enrolled and is enrolled in the maximum number of credit hours 99
that is feasible for such student to attempt in a semester, as determined 100
by such student's academic advisor; 101
(6) "Semester" means the fall or spring semester of an academic year. 102
"Semester" does not include a summer semester or session; 103
(7) "Part-time student" means a student who is enrolled at a regional 104
community-technical college or a technical education and career school 105
and is carrying not less than six but fewer than twelve credit hours in a 106
semester; and 107
(8) "Transition program student" means any person who (A) is a 108
resident of this state, (B) has not graduated from high school, (C) is 109
enrolled in a transition program pursuant to such person's 110
individualized education program, and (D) enrolls in one or more 111
courses at a regional community-technical college or a technical 112
education and career school. 113
(b) The Board of Regents for Higher Education shall (1) establish and 114 Substitute Bill No. 7216
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administer, in consultation with the superintendent of the Technical 115
Education and Career System, a debt-free [community college] 116
education program to make awards to qualifying students each 117
semester, (2) adopt rules, procedures and forms necessary to implement 118
the debt-free [community college] education program, and (3) submit a 119
report outlining such rules, procedures and forms, in accordance with 120
the provisions of section 11-4a, to the joint standing committee of the 121
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to higher 122
education. Awards made to qualifying students pursuant to the debt-123
free [community college] education program shall be designated as the 124
"Mary Ann Handley Award". 125
(c) [For the fall semester of 2020, and each] Each semester [thereafter,] 126
the Board of Regents for Higher Education shall make awards to 127
qualifying students within available appropriations. An award shall be 128
available to a qualifying student for the first seventy-two credit hours 129
earned by the qualifying student at a regional community-technical 130
college or at an adult education program at a technical education and 131
career school, provided the qualifying student meets and continues to 132
meet the requirements of this section. The board shall not use an award 133
to supplant any financial aid, including, but not limited to, state or 134
institutional aid, otherwise available to a qualifying student. 135
(d) Not later than November 1, [2024] 2025, and March 1, [2025] 2026, 136
and each semester thereafter, the Board of Regents for Higher Education 137
shall report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, to the 138
joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance 139
of matters relating to higher education and employment advancement 140
and appropriations and the budgets of the state agencies regarding the 141
debt-free community college program, including, but not limited to, (1) 142
the number of qualifying students enrolled at the regional community-143
technical colleges and the Technical Education and Career System 144
during each semester, (2) the number of qualifying students receiving 145
minimum awards and the number of qualifying students receiving 146
awards for the unpaid portion of eligible institutional costs, (3) the 147
average number of credit hours the qualifying students enrolled in each 148 Substitute Bill No. 7216
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semester and the average number of credit hours the qualifying 149
students completed each semester, (4) the average amount of the award 150
made to qualifying students under this section for the unpaid portion of 151
eligible institutional costs, and (5) the completion rates of qualifying 152
students receiving awards under this section by college or school and 153
degree or certificate program. 154
(e) For the fall semester of 2025, and each semester thereafter, the 155
superintendent of the Technical Education and Career System shall 156
submit to the Board of Regents for Higher Education, in the form and 157
manner prescribed by the board, the number of qualifying students 158
enrolled in the system's adult education programs for such semester, the 159
amount of award for which each student qualifies and the amount of 160
financial aid each student receives. The board shall pay the aggregate 161
sum of such awards to the system for distribution to such qualifying 162
students. 163
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2025 10-95r
Sec. 2 July 1, 2025 10a-174
ED Joint Favorable Subst. C/R APP