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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1459
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 6001
Referred to Committee on EDUCATION
Introduced by:
(ED)
AN ACT CONCERNING TEACHER SALARIES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2025) (a) Any collective bargaining 1
agreement entered into, amended or extended on and after July 1, 2025, 2
between a local or regional board of education and the representatives 3
of the exclusive bargaining unit for certified employees, chosen 4
pursuant to section 10-153b of the general statutes, shall establish a 5
minimum salary for certified teachers in an amount that is not less than 6
three hundred per cent of the federal poverty level for a family of two. 7
(b) Upon the mutual agreement of a local or regional board of 8
education receiving a teacher retention grant pursuant to section 2 of 9
this act, and the representatives of such exclusive bargaining unit, 10
contracts for teachers may be reopened and negotiated exclusively for 11
the purpose of allocating teacher retention grant funds pursuant to the 12
provisions of sections 10-153a to 10-153n, inclusive, of the general 13
statutes provided, upon mutual agreement of the parties, such 14
negotiations may (1) include salaries and other conditions of 15
employment, and (2) not be subject to binding arbitration under the 16 Raised Bill No. 1459
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provision of section 10-153f of the general statutes. 17
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2025) (a) Not later than August 1, 2025, 18
the Comptroller shall establish a grant program to provide teacher 19
retention grants to each municipality, to increase the salaries of certified 20
teachers to reach the minimum salary established pursuant to section 1 21
of this act. A teacher retention grant shall be available to each 22
municipality in an amount equal to such municipality's proportional 23
share of the annual state-wide aggregate of equalization aid grants that 24
such municipality receives pursuant to section 10-262h of the general 25
statutes. The Comptroller shall distribute teacher retention grants (1) for 26
the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026, in the aggregate amount of not less 27
than six hundred million dollars, and (2) for the fiscal year ending June 28
30, 2027, in the aggregate amount of not less than twenty per cent of the 29
unappropriated surplus in the General Fund from the previous fiscal 30
year, as determined by the Comptroller after the accounts for said fund 31
have been closed. 32
(b) Each municipality that receives a teacher retention grant shall (1) 33
divide such grant equally among all students counted in such 34
municipality's equalization aid grant for the previous fiscal year, and (2) 35
pay to each local and regional board of education an amount equal to 36
the proportion of such students who were enrolled in schools governed 37
by each such board during the previous fiscal year, provided, not later 38
than the fiscal year ending June 30, 2028, such board includes in the 39
collective bargaining agreement with the exclusive bargaining unit for 40
certified employees a requirement for the first step of the salary 41
schedule to be equal to the minimum salary established pursuant to 42
section 1 of this act. 43
(c) Each local or regional board of education shall use a teacher 44
retention grant only for the purpose of increasing the salaries of certified 45
teachers employed by such board who are members of the exclusive 46
bargaining unit for certified employees, chosen pursuant to section 10-47
153b of the general statutes, as follows: 48 Raised Bill No. 1459
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(1) Not less than seventy-five per cent of such grant shall be paid, if 49
possible, to each teacher whose salary is not at the maximum level of the 50
salary schedule agreed upon in the applicable collective bargaining 51
agreement, based on the portion of teachers with salaries below the 52
maximum level. 53
(2) Teachers whose salaries are at the maximum of such salary 54
schedule may receive payment from the teacher retention grant, 55
provided such maximum salary is not more thirty per cent higher than 56
the first level of such salary schedule. 57
(3) For the fiscal years ending June 30, 2026, to June 30, 2028, 58
inclusive, payment shall be made to each teacher with a salary level, 59
based on the annual salary reported to the teachers' retirement board, 60
below the minimum salary established pursuant to section 1 of this act, 61
in an amount equal to the difference between such teacher's annual 62
salary and the minimum salary. 63
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2025 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2025 New section
ED Joint Favorable C/R APP