Regl_School_Final_Chapter

Section Two

Regional School Districts

Connecticut statutes governing regional school districts give towns considerable control over specific policies affecting board operations, governance, and representation. In addition to approving creation of a regional district, state law gives voters in towns belonging to regional schools authority to:

add or withdraw grades from an existing regional school district;
withdraw from or dissolve a regional school district;
approve or reject board-negotiated contracts for certified school personnel;
approve or reject a regional board's composition and method of representation; and
approve or reject board-proposed education budgets and bonding packages.

It is important to note that although approval for any of the actions noted above ultimately is vested directly in the town's voters, locally elected officials also play a role in initiating most of the steps required to affect changes. This chapter briefly describes the statutory processes to establish or change the composition of a regional school district and for town input into negotiated teacher contracts and arbitration awards. Chapter Three discusses how regional board representation for each town belonging to a regional school district is determined. Chapter Four outlines regional school budget adoption, bonding, and voter approval processes.

Establishing, Adding and Withdrawing Grades, and Dissolving a Regional School District

Each of the bulleted actions above and described in Figure II-1, Figure II-2, and Figure II-3 calls for a slightly different process to be followed although the main components are similar and include:

a vote by each participating local legislative body to form a temporary study committee;
appointments to the committee;
funding the study;
appointment of a SDE consultant to assist the committee;
a written report of the committee's findings;
review and approval by the state board of education (SBE); and
simultaneous referendum in affected towns.

The reason there are three separate statutory processes for each of the actions noted above are summarized in Table II-1 and include differing:


Table II-1. Comparison of Three Statutory Processes Governing Regional School Districts.
Type of Action	Establish District	Add/Withdraw Grades	Withdraw or Dissolve District
Initiate Study	Legislative bodies of each town recommends study or two or more local boards of education may conduct preliminary study issue and request CEO of town to hold town meeting to vote on issue; or regional board may call meeting if issue regards expanding region	Regional Board of Education or two or more local boards of education recommend study to chairs of board of finance and board of education who initiate study	Legislative body of any town belonging to a regional school district recommends study
Appointment to/ Composition of Study Committee	Each legislative body of participating towns appoint 5 members (2 must be from local Bd of Ed.)	Each local Bd of Ed and Bd of Finance chair in each town appoint 1 member; Reg. Bd. Of Ed. chair appoints 1 reg bd member from each town	1 member of local Bd of Ed (if not a K-12 district) from each town or an elector elected by town legislative body; 1 member from Bd. Of Finance in each town; 2 members from Reg. Bd of Ed; 1 member appointed by SDE commissioner; state treasurer or designee; 1 member appointed by Reg. Bd. of Ed who is an expert in municipal bonding and finance
Payment of Study Committee Expenses	Paid by participating towns; initial 2 years cannot exceed $10 per student in participating towns - prorated among towns	Paid by regional district; cannot exceed $3 per pupil in average daily membership	Paid by towns applying for withdrawal or dissolution
Life of Study Committee	2 years with 2 year extension	2 years with 2 year extension	One year
Contents of Study Committee Report	Inadvisable: findings/reasons Advisable: towns included in district; grade levels provided; 5- year education and budget plans; recommended facilities; cost estimates for land and facilities; each town's capital contribution; the size of the Reg Bd of Ed; the relative representation of each town on the Reg Bd of Ed	Same as establishing district	Recommendations on advisability of a withdrawal/dissolution; determination of the value of net assets of the district; apportionment of the net assets to each member town (based on average daily pupil formula); plan for settlement of any obligations and the transfer of property from the district to the member towns; timetable; the question to be determined by referenda; and other matters deemed necessary by the committee.
State Board of Education Action	Approve or Reject	Approve or Reject	Approve or Reject
Referenda for Approval	Majority of voters in each town required for approval	Majority of voters in region-wide required for approval	Majority of voters in each town required for approval

official bodies allowed to initiate an action;
compositions of study committees and the appointing authority;
committee timeframes to issue findings and recommendations and take action; and
approval authority necessary for implementation (either a majority of voters in each town required or only region-wide approval necessary).

Certified Professional Employee Contracts

Negotiated contracts. Another area providing town voters and officials influence in school governance is board-negotiated contracts with certified professional school employees. Figure II-4 shows the process boards of education use to negotiate certified personnel contracts. All boards of education, including regional boards, are required to meet and confer with the local board of finance, or other appropriating authority if member towns do not have a finance board, within 30 days prior to beginning contract negotiations. In addition, a member of the board of finance is permitted to be present during negotiations and must provide fiscal information if requested by the regional board. In interviews conducted by program review committee staff however, many town members belonging to a regional school believe they have little influence at this stage of the process, and therefore, do not see value in participating.

If a contract is negotiated, regional boards are required to file a signed contract with the town clerk of each member town and with the SDE commissioner. The terms of the contract are binding unless:

the contract is rejected at a regular or special meeting called by the regional board within 30 days of the contract filing; or
a vote on the contract is petitioned for and held in accordance with the referenda provisions of C.G.S. sec. 7-7.

In addition, the chief elected official of any member town can submit a written request within 15 days of its filing with the town clerk, and request the regional board call a district meeting to consider the contract. The meeting must be held within 30 days of the contract filing. However, it is important to note, the statute does not require the board vote on the contract, only that they meet to consider it. Thus, a negotiated contract can be rejected:

by referenda with at least 15 percent of the electors of the regional school district voting and a majority of those voting reject the contract; or
by the regional school board if it calls a meeting voluntarily or by request of a member town's chief elected official and a vote is taken.

If the contract is not rejected, the town must appropriate whatever funds are required to implement the contract terms. If the contract is rejected, the parties must commence the arbitration process on the fifth day following the rejection (this is the equivalent of the 135th day

prior to the budget submission date). However, either party can request the contract dispute be mediated prior to the initial arbitration hearing, but nothing in statute requires local officials be present during mediation.

Arbitrated contracts. When there is no contract settlement, the arbitration process must begin by the 135^th day prior to the budget submission date and the arbitration panel is required to convene a hearing. Prior to the arbitration hearing, the local fiscal authority having local budgetary authority or charged with making the appropriations for the school district is provided written notice as to the date, time, and place of the hearing. The local fiscal authorities are given the opportunity to provide testimony regarding the financial capability of the school district unless such opportunity to be heard is waived. The statute is not clear who the fiscal authority is in regional school districts (i.e., whether it is the fiscal boards of member towns or the regional board itself).

After hearing the evidence, the arbitrator(s) must issue a decision with the next 20 days. The decision is binding unless the board of selectmen in any of the participating towns and are empowered to act as the legislative body, reject it by a two-thirds majority vote within 25 days of the award's receipt. If the award is rejected, towns must notify, within 10 days after the vote, the commissioner and the exclusive representative for the teachers' or administrators' unit of such vote and submit to them a written explanation of the reasons the vote was negative. A second arbitration panel will be convened and if the award is rejected (by the board of selectmen in a town-meeting form of government), it is subject to judicial review.

Summary

Connecticut law provides many opportunities for voters in towns belonging to regional school districts to make changes to existing districts, even providing a process that allows towns to withdraw from a district. In addition, voters are also given the option of rejecting some contracts that could have major financial implications for the district. Two areas that are not discussed, but also require voter action are determining the regional school board's composition, and approving school budgets, which will be described in the next two chapters.