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OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 6
AN ACT CONCERNING RESOURCES AND SUPPORTS FOR
INFANTS, TODDLERS AND DISCONNECTED YOUTHS.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
SUMMARY
§§ 1 & 2 — CACFP ADMINISTRATION OF CACFP
Designates OEC, instead of SDE, the lead agency for administering and distributing CACFP
funds
§ 3 — ANNUAL REPORT ON DISCONNECTED YOUT H
Requires P20WIN to submit its annual report to the Connecticut Advisory Commission on
Intergovernmental Relations and the Two-Generational Advisory Board; requires the
legislature to hold a hearing on each annual report; requires P20WIN, when preparing its 2027
annual report, to incorporate data provided by specified state agencies and sets related
requirements
§ 4 — KINDERGARTEN PREPARATORY ACADEMIES
Requires SDE to develop guidance for local and regional boards of education on administering
kindergarten preparatory academies
§ 5 — CONNECTICUT SMART START COMPETITIVE GRANT
PROGRAM
Increases maximum grant amounts awarded under the Connecticut Smart Start Competitive
Grant Program and allows grants to be used to establish or expand kindergarten preparatory
academies
§§ 6 & 7 — MUNICIPAL YOUTH CAMPS
Subjects municipal youth camps to OEC licensure, which they are exempt from under current
law
§ 8 — EARLY CHILDHOOD CABINET MEMBERSHIP
Adds the Connecticut Library Consortium’s executive director to the membership of the Early
Childhood Cabinet
§§ 9-11 — BIRTH-TO-THREE AND HELP ME GROW PROGRAMS
Requires OEC to (1) update and expand the content of its one-page developmental milestone
document, (2) conduct a quarterly review of children deemed ineligible for Birth-to-Three, and
(3) provide certain supports to teen parents through the Help Me Grow program
§ 12 — SPARKLER MOBILE APPLICATION
Requires OEC to develop a report on its use of the Sparkler mobile application and submit its
report to the Committee on Children by January 1, 2026
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SUMMARY
This bill contains various provisions affecting resources and supports
for infants, toddlers, and disconnected youth.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2025
§§ 1 & 2 — CACFP ADMINISTRATION OF CACFP
Designates OEC, instead of SDE, the lead agency for administering and distributing
CACFP funds
The bill designates the Office of Early Childhood (OEC), instead of
the State Department of Education (SDE), as the lead agency for
administering and distributing federal Child and Adult Care Food
Program (CACFP) funds.
It correspondingly requires OEC, rather than SDE, to encourage child
care centers and group and family child care homes to participate in the
program, including by (1) annually advertising the program to non-
participating child care centers and group and family child care homes
and (2) sharing relevant data between the office and other state agencies.
The bill also makes related technical and conforming changes.
§ 3 — ANNUAL REPORT ON DISCONNECTED YOUT H
Requires P20WIN to submit its annual report to the Connecticut Advisory Commission
on Intergovernmental Relations and the Two-Generational Advisory Board; requires the
legislature to hold a hearing on each annual report; requires P20WIN, when preparing its
2027 annual report, to incorporate data provided by specified state agencies and sets
related requirements
By law, the executive board of the Connecticut Preschool Through
Twenty and Workforce Information Network (P20WIN) must submit an
annual report on disconnected youth (i.e. certain youth ages 14 to 26
who are at-risk students and not enrolled in high school) to the
Appropriations, Children, Education, Human Services, Judiciary, Labor
and Public Employees, and Public Health committees. The bill
additionally requires the board to give the annual report to the
Connecticut Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and
the Two-Generational Advisory Board.
Under the bill, the legislative committees listed above must hold a 2025SB-00006-R000199-BA.DOCX
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hearing on the report between January 1 and February 1 in the year after
the report’s submission.
Additionally, the bill requires the executive board, when preparing
its January 1, 2027, report, to include a plan to incorporate data provided
by OEC, the Department of Developmental Services, Connecticut State
Colleges and Universities, and the Office of Health Strategy (OHS)
through an enterprise memorandum of understanding (MOU) (see
Background ― Enterprise MOU).
Under the bill, this data may at least include the following: (1) OEC
child-level data on the Care 4 Kids program, Birth-to-Three Program,
Early Start CT, Family Bridge Program, early childhood home visiting
programs, and early care and education programs, and (2) OHS data
from the all-payer claims database.
Background — Enterprise MOU
By law, an “enterprise MOU” is a foundational, multiparty
agreement that sets forth details of how data is shared and the respective
legal rights and responsibilities of each party to the process, which may
also be used for new agencies to sign on to the data-sharing process,
without having to re-sign as agencies sign on (or off) the agreement.
§ 4 — KINDERGARTEN PREPARATORY ACADEMIES
Requires SDE to develop guidance for local and regional boards of education on
administering kindergarten preparatory academies
The bill requires SDE, by January 1, 2026, to develop guidance for
local and regional education boards on administering kindergarten
preparatory academies. These programs enroll students who turn five
years old on or after September 1 of the school year and are ineligible to
enroll in school that year.
Under the bill, the guidance must include information on the
following:
1. the availability of meal and lunch grants or subsidies, including
those offered through CACFP, for enrolled students; 2025SB-00006-R000199-BA.DOCX
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2. whether families of enrolled students are eligible for Care 4 Kids
subsidies;
3. whether OEC or State Board of Education regulations govern the
administration of these academies, including regulations on
student-to-teacher ratios, parental involvement and notification
procedures, recess, classroom removal, special education
identification, and curriculum requirements; and
4. whether these students qualify as “resident students” for
purposes of education cost sharing (see Background ― Resident
Students).
The bill requires SDE to post the guidance on its website and make it
available to local and regional school boards, upon request.
Background ― Resident Students
“Resident students” is generally the number of students in a town
enrolled in its public schools at the town’s expense as of October 1 each
year. This definition additionally includes students who are enrolled in
schools outside their hometown, such as magnet and vocational-
agriculture schools and students in the Open Choice program.
The number of resident students is used as part of various education-
related funding calculations, such as cost sharing grants and choice
program grants. For Open Choice students, they are counted as 50% in
the town the student resides in and 50% in the town where they attend
school.
§ 5 — CONNECTICUT SM ART START COMPETITIV E GRANT
PROGRAM
Increases maximum grant amounts awarded under the Connecticut Smart Start
Competitive Grant Program and allows grants to be used to establish or expand
kindergarten preparatory academies
Under current law, the Connecticut Smart Start Competitive Grant
Program provides grants for capital and operating expenses for local
and regional boards of education to establish or expand preschool
programs. The bill also allows school boards to use the grants to
establish or expand kindergarten preparatory academies and makes 2025SB-00006-R000199-BA.DOCX
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related conforming changes.
Additionally, the bill increases the program’s maximum grant
amounts as follows:
1. for capital grants, from $75,000 to $105,000 per classroom to
renovate an existing public school to accommodate or expand a
preschool program or kindergarten preparatory academy and
2. for annual operating expenses grants, (a) from $5,000 to $7,000
per child served by the grant or (b) from $75,000 to $105,000 per
preschool classroom for a period of five years, as long as the
program continues to meet OEC standards.
Under existing law and the bill, to be eligible for a grant, an applicant
board must demonstrate that they have a need to establish or expand a
preschool program or kindergarten preparatory academy, submit a plan
for spending grant funds, and submit a letter of support from the local
or regional school readiness council, if applicable.
§§ 6 & 7 — MUNICIPAL YOUTH CAMPS
Subjects municipal youth camps to OEC licensure, which they are exempt from under
current law
The bill subjects municipal youth camps (those serving children ages
3 to 16) to state oversight by requiring them to obtain a license from
OEC. Currently, municipal day camps are exempt from state licensure.
In doing so, the bill extends to municipal youth camps existing
licensure requirements for non-municipal youth camps, including
requirements related to immunizations, medication administration,
inspections and investigations, criminal background checks, and
reporting suspected child abuse and neglect.
As under existing law, municipal day camps must apply to OEC for
a license at least 30 days before opening the camp and pay the associated
fee (currently $815 for for-profit camps and $315 for nonprofit camps).
Licenses must be renewed annually.
Under the bill, OEC may take various disciplinary actions against 2025SB-00006-R000199-BA.DOCX
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municipal youth camps under existing law, such as license suspension
or revocation.
§ 8 — EARLY CHILDHOO D CABINET MEMBERSHIP
Adds the Connecticut Library Consortium’s executive director to the membership of the
Early Childhood Cabinet
The bill increases the Early Childhood Cabinet’s membership, from
31 to 32, by adding the Connecticut Library Consortium’s executive
director.
By law, the Early Childhood Cabinet (1) advises OEC, (2) develops
an annual action plan that assigns state agencies certain tasks specified
in the federal Head Start Act, and (3) submits an annual state-wide
strategic report that addresses agencies’ progress in meeting the action
plan’s requirements.
§§ 9-11 — BIRTH-TO-THREE AND HELP ME GRO W PROGRAMS
Requires OEC to (1) update and expand the content of its one-page developmental
milestone document, (2) conduct a quarterly review of children deemed ineligible for
Birth-to-Three, and (3) provide certain supports to teen parents through the Help Me
Grow program
The bill makes various changes to notice and information collection
requirements related to OEC’s Help Me Grow and Birth-to-Three
programs (see Background).
It requires OEC to update, as needed, its one-page developmental
document required under existing law. Currently, the document must
(1) list key developmental milestones for children from birth to age five
and (2) notify parents and guardians concerned that their child has not
yet met any developmental milestones that they may access the OEC
Child Development Infoline for information on appropriate services.
The bill additionally requires the document to notify parents and
guardians that they may also access the Help Me Grow program for
information on the following:
1. accessing no-cost developmental screening and evaluation
programs for children ages birth to five, 2025SB-00006-R000199-BA.DOCX
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2. connecting to community and in-home programs and services,
3. parenting and healthy child development supports, and
4. early intervention and special education services.
Under the bill, OEC must also do the following:
1. conduct a quarterly review to determine how many children
referred to the Birth-to-Three program were deemed ineligible
and why;
2. notify parents and guardians of ineligible children that they may
receive additional supports and services from the Help Me Grow
program;
3. collect information on these ineligible children including (a) the
types of supports and services and (b) additional referrals they
receive under the Help Me Grow program; and
4. provide, through the Help Me Grow program, trainings and
other social, educational, and workforce supports to teen parents
in communities with teen birth rates greater than 10% (according
to the Department of Public Health’s most recent data).
Background ― Birth-to-Three
By law, the Birth-to-Three program is designed to strengthen
families’ capacities to meet the developmental and health-related needs
of their infants and toddlers who have developmental delays or
disabilities. Generally, to be eligible for the program a child must (1) live
in Connecticut, (2) be younger than three, and (3) have a developmental
delay or a medical condition that most likely will result in a
developmental delay.
Background ― Help Me Grow Program
By law, the Help Me Grow program identifies children at risk for
developmental or behavioral problems and connects them to existing
community resources. Program components include, among other
things, (1) training child health providers in effective developmental 2025SB-00006-R000199-BA.DOCX
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surveillance; (2) creating a resource inventory of community-based
programs supporting child development and families; (3) developing a
coordinated, statewide referral system that links young children and
families to existing services and support; and (4) collecting data and
analyses of children’s developmental status and statewide resources.
§ 12 — SPARKLER MOBILE APPLICATION
Requires OEC to develop a report on its use of the Sparkler mobile application and submit
its report to the Committee on Children by January 1, 2026
The bill requires OEC to develop a report on its use of the “Sparkler”
mobile application (see Background ― Sparkler Mobile Application).
Under the bill, the report must address the following:
1. how Sparkler assesses whether or how much children and
families are learning;
2. the intended and achieved outcomes of its coaching sessions,
including whether the application measures the working alliance
between the coach and parent or guardian;
3. whether Sparkler promotes early healthy brain development,
and if so, how that development is measured;
4. how results are given to parents and guardians;
5. whether children are growing and developing over time and how
the application measures and tracks this development; and
6. how Sparkler links families with health and education providers
and whether it helps establish care teams and coordinated
services.
The bill requires OEC to submit its report to the Committee on
Children by January 1, 2026.
Background ― Sparkler Mobile Application
Sparkler is a mobile application that gives parents and guardians
with children ages birth to five social and emotional developmental 2025SB-00006-R000199-BA.DOCX
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screenings. The application (1) tracks children’s developmental
progress, (2) provides information on activities that can promote
development, and (3) provides access to 211’s early childhood providers
and care coordinators.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Committee on Children
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 12 Nay 5 (03/06/2025)