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.ISTARTMIS------------------------------
.I NAME: 245.SUM
.I COMP: 6/6/94
.I REVW: MCC000
.I PAGES: 7
.I TITLE: AAC REVISIONS TO THE EDUCATION STATUTES
.I NOTES: LAV
.I REPLACE:
.IENDMIS--------------------------------
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PA 94-245--sHB 5755
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Education Committee
___________________
Appropriations Committee
________________________
Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee
______________________________________
Government Administration and Elections Committee
_________________________________________________
Planning and Development Committee
__________________________________
AN ACT CONCERNING REVISIONS TO THE EDUCATION STATUTES
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SUMMARY: This act makes numerous changes in laws
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regarding elementary, secondary, and higher education,
and the State Commission on the Arts, the Educational
Equity Committee, and the Connecticut Student Loan
Foundation. It also establishes June 30, 1994 as the
official ending date for service in the armed forces
during the Gulf War (Operations Desert Shield and
Desert Storm). Veterans who served during the statutory
period are eligible for tuition waivers at public
colleges as well as for many other state and local
benefits.
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Finally, the act makes several technical and
conforming changes and removes obsolete language.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage, except for a provision
regarding foster care placements, special education and
private or home schooling, and limitations on the
commissioner's waiver authority, which are effective
July 1, 1994.
FURTHER EXPLANATION
Elementary and Secondary Education
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Priority School District Grants. The act allows
________________________________
priority school district grants to be used for academic
enrichment, tutorial, and recreation activities in
school buildings when school is not in session. Prior
law limited the use of the grants to dropout
prevention, extended-day kindergarten, and parent
involvement programs.
Hold-Harmless Priority School District Grants. The
______________________________________________
act requires towns that received priority school
district grants during FY 1993-94 to receive the same
amount for FY 1994-95.
Teacher Competency Exams. Beginning January 1,
__________________________
1995, the act removes the requirement that individuals'
achievement of satisfactory scores on all components of
the teacher competency exam be accomplished in one
administration of the test. Passing the test is a
requirement for admission to a teacher preparation
program and for a teaching certificate. The act also
allows the State Board of Education to prescribe a
competency test administered under its direction,
rather than only one the board administers itself.
Energy Conservation Project Approval. The act adds
_____________________________________
energy conservation projects to those for which
districts can submit final plans and specifications for
review and approval to local officials having
jurisdiction instead of to the education commissioner.
The law already allowed local officials to approve
final plans and specifications for oil tank or roof
replacement, asbestos abatement, and code violation
projects and for projects for which a state grant is
not sought.
School Construction Grant Penalty. The act allows,
__________________________________
rather than requires, the education commissioner to
impose a penalty of 10% of the state reimbursement
grant on school construction projects for which the
final grant application is not submitted within a year
of the project's completion. It also eliminates a
procedure for towns or districts to ask the
commissioner to waive the penalty.
Single Cost Accounting System. The act allows the
______________________________
departments of Children and Families and Education, by
regulation, to combine their procedures for
administering the single cost accounting system for
paying room, board, and education at private
residential treatment centers. Examples of such
combined procedures are joint hearings and reviews.
Strategic School Profile Reports. Beginning in
___________________________________
1994, the act changes from May 1 to November 1 the
annual date (1) by which school boards must submit
annual strategic school profile reports to the
education commissioner on each of their schools and
their districts and (2) after which superintendents
must present the reports at the next regularly
scheduled meeting of their school boards.
Regional District Amended Budget Timing. The act
_________________________________________
doubles the time a regional school board has to call a
district meeting to consider an amended budget, from
two to four weeks after a vote rejecting the earlier
budget.
Fees for Use of School Facilities. The act requires
_________________________________
payments by outside groups or individuals for the use
of school facilities to be considered additional
appropriations to the school board, minus any costs the
fiscal authority responsible for budgets or
appropriations incurs in providing custodial services.
Sliding Scale Fees for Birth-to-Three Services. The
______________________________________________
act requires the education commissioner, in conjunction
with the administrative services commissioner, to
establish a sliding scale of parental contributions for
early intervention services under the state's
Birth-to-Three program and sets criteria for it. The
scale of contributions must take into account the cost
of services compared to the parents' financial
resources. Parents can be charged up to the full cost
allowed under federal law. If parents assign it to him,
the education commissioner has the right to claim
insurance payments for the costs of services. The
Education Department may assign its rights to collect
contributions and insurance payments for these services
to a designee. The State Board of Education must adopt
regulations to recover insurance payments and to
establish procedures for determining parents'
liability. The regulations must be implemented
beginning July 1, 1995.
The Office of Policy and Management (OPM)
secretary, in consultation with the Education
Department, must evaluate the feasibility of holding
service recipients harmless for the effect that
pursuing insurance payments will have on their lifetime
insurance limits. He must report his findings and
recommendations, including which state agency should
pay the claims, to the Education Committee by December
1, 1994.
Disclosure of Special Education Hearing Evidence
___________________________________________________
and Witnesses. The act requires each party to a special
_____________
education hearing, at least five days before it begins,
to disclose a list of its witnesses and the documentary
evidence to be presented.
Joint Committee on Educational Technology
___________________________________________________
Membership. The act adds six members to the Joint
__________
Committee on Educational Technology--the commissioner
of economic development or his designee and a
representative of the Office of Information Technology
designated by the OPM secretary, a member appointed by
the Connecticut Educators Computer Association, and
three members with experience or expertise in
informational technology appointed by the Connecticut
Business for Education Coalition.
Mastery Test: Retesting and Certification. The act
__________________________________________
removes the requirement that students who fail to meet
the remedial standard on all components of the eighth
or tenth grade mastery tests be required to retake the
components until they do so.
It also postpones for a year, until September 1,
1994, the date by which certification of a student's
having met or exceeded the statewide mastery goal on
each component of the tenth grade test is made on his
permanent record and transcript.
Special Education Advisory Committee Term
___________________________________________________
Limitation. The act removes the two-term limit for
__________
members of the Advisory Council for Special Education,
which advises the General Assembly, the education
commissioner, and the State Board of Education. Each
term is two years.
Minimum Expenditure Requirement (MER) Penalty
___________________________________________________
Payments. The act exempts the additional funds that
________
school districts must spend to compensate for failing
to meet their previous year's MER from being counted as
regular expenditures establishing a future MER.
Districts must spend above their MER in any year
twice the amount by which they failed to meet their MER
in a previous year, or have the amount of that double
expenditure withheld from their state equalization aid.
Foster Care Placements. Under prior law, when state
______________________
agencies placed children requiring special education in
residential placements and the school districts in
which the children would otherwise be attending school
could not be identified, the school boards of the towns
where the children were placed were responsible for the
cost of their special education, up to a maximum of 2.5
times the respective boards' average per pupil cost of
education for the previous fiscal year. The act
entitles these school boards to state agency payment,
by September 30 of the next fiscal year, for 50% of the
actual cost of special education and related services
for these "no-nexus" students placed in foster homes,
if at any time during a school year there are at least
six such children and their number exceeds .25% of the
district's total student population.
High School Graduation Date. The act allows a
_____________________________
school board to establish a high school graduation date
for the 1993-94 school year that is earlier than the
185th day of the school calendar originally adopted.
Special Education and Private School or Home
___________________________________________________
Schooling. The act exempts students from the state's
_________
special education requirements, if their parents or
guardians provide equivalent instruction at home or in
a private school and refuse to consent to special
education services for their children.
Limitation on Commissioner's Waiver Authority. The
______________________________________________
act prohibits the education commissioner from waiving
any law if doing so would limit parents' authority to
provide for equivalent instruction for their children
instead of having them attend public school.
Higher Education
________________
Expanded Time for Review of Higher Education
___________________________________________________
Central Office Expenses. The act extends the time the
_______________________
higher education commissioner has to review the
statutory restriction on spending for central office
staff by the Connecticut State University (CSU) system
and the Community-Technical Colleges, and for
administration by UConn, from 30 to 60 days after each
quarter of FYs 1993-94 and 1994-95.
Endowed Chair Investment Fund Interest. The act
________________________________________
requires the interest earned on the Endowed Chair
Investment Fund to be allocated to UConn or the CSU
system upon request, rather than annually as under
prior law, to support the endowed chairs. The fund was
established to match private funds for endowed chairs
at the state's public universities.
Higher Education Purchasing Flexibility. The act
________________________________________
eliminates the $20,000 limit on the cost of supplies,
materials, equipment, and contractual services that the
constituent units of higher education may purchase
themselves without going out to bid when the purchase
is required to implement, and is specified in, a grant,
contract, or other agreement. It also grants the same
authority to the four member institutions of the CSU
system.
UConn's Student Trustees. The act advances by four
________________________
months, from before November 1 to before July 1
annually, the required election in alternate years of
UConn's two student trustees and the date by which they
must begin serving their respective staggered two-year
terms.
CSU System. The act removes the requirement that
__________
the CSU board of trustees administer the system itself
and instead requires it to provide for the
administration of the system. It authorizes the chief
executive officers of the respective institutions to
make their facilities available to others, subject to
policies the board may establish, and removes the
board's authority to do so directly. It removes the
requirement that the trustees submit a list of
professional staff positions to the administrative
services commissioner.
Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. The act authorizes the
___________________________
Lyme Academy of Fine Arts to confer degrees and grant
diplomas or certificates, in accordance with its bylaws
and any requirements prescribed by the Board of
Governors of Higher Education.
CSU Parking Violations as Infractions. The act
________________________________________
makes violations of the traffic and parking regulations
on the CSU campuses infractions (see table on
penalties), as they already are on the UConn campus.
Commission on the Arts
______________________
Membership. The act (1) requires the Commission on
__________
the Arts to include any member of the National Council
on the Arts who lives in Connecticut and exempts such
members from the two-term limitation; (2) changes the
expiration dates of the terms of the five gubernatorial
appointments, three of which expire in 1995 and two of
which expire in 1997, from June 30 to the preceding
December 31 or until their successors are appointed and
qualified, whichever is later; and (3) requires the
governor to designate the commission's chairperson from
among those he appoints.
Arts Endowment Bonus Eliminated. The act eliminates
_______________________________
the 10% bonus grant which, under prior law, was added
to the regular state percentage match of contributions
to an arts organization when the funds are contributed
for an organization's endowment.
Documentation of Arts Contributions. It requires
____________________________________
tax-exempt arts organizations' applications for state
matching grants to include a copy of their federal tax
returns instead of a licensed CPA's statement, to show
total contributions for the year. It postpones the
annual application deadline from October 15 to December
15 and requires the application to contain information
for the two previous fiscal years, instead of just the
previous year. It also allows individuals'
contributions to be counted for matching grants.
Applicable Fiscal Years. The act allows state arts
_______________________
grants to be based on the contributions that an arts
organization receives during whatever fiscal year is
specified in its bylaws, instead of requiring them to
be based on the fiscal year ending June 30.
Educational Equity Committee
____________________________
The act postpones the establishment of the
Committee on Educational Equity and Excellence for six
months, from January to July 1, 1994, adds to its
duties, and increases its membership.
New Duties. It requires the committee to review and
__________
make recommendations about the repeal of state laws
that impede the delivery of efficient and effective
public education.
Membership Changes. It increases the membership to
__________________
include practicing classroom teachers and school
administrators, at least two teachers recognized for
excellence, a board of education member, and more
parents. It requires two of three Connecticut Education
Association and one of two Connecticut State Federation
of Teachers appointments to be employed as classroom
teachers. It removes appointments by the top
legislative leaders and names the Education Committee
chairmen and ranking members to the committee.
Deadlines. The act requires the chairman of the
_________
State Board of Education to chair the committee,
postpones from December 15, 1993 to June 15, 1994 the
date by which appointments must be made, and requires
the chairman to convene the first meeting by July 15,
instead of January 15, 1994.
Connecticut Student Loan Foundation (CSLF) Bonding
_______________________________________________________
Authority
_________
The act gives the CSLF the authority to issue
taxable bonds to fund or acquire loans (and provide
incidental services) under the federal Guaranteed
Student Loan Program. The bonds, notes, or other
obligations are backed by the foundation's revenues and
are neither a debt or liability of the state or any
other political subdivision nor backed by their full
faith and credit. The act gives the foundation the
explicit authority, which it already exercises in
practice, to acquire loans and act as a secondary bond
market.
It exempts the CSLF from the sunset law.