OLR Bill Analysis

sHB 6427 (File 770, as amended by House "A" and Senate "A")*

AN ACT CONCERNING PROGRAMS TO ADDRESS THE TEACHER SHORTAGE, PILOT EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING PROGRAMS AND TEACHER PREPARATION COURSES

SUMMARY:

For each fiscal year starting in FY 2002-03, this bill allows the education commissioner to supplement state grants to regional educational service centers (RESCs) for transporting students participating in the state's interdistrict public school choice program if their transportation costs exceed the statewide average of $ 2,100 per student. The supplemental grants must come from funds remaining from the annual appropriation for such transportation (§ 509).

The bill requires schools that receive school readiness grants as priority schools under the state's competitive grant program for such schools to remain eligible to compete for grants for five years after they cease to be eligible as priority schools. The maximum grant a former priority school may receive under the program must gradually decrease over the five years.

The bill makes several changes in state laws concerning special education and the education of homeless children. It:

1. expands placement opportunities for children requiring special education;

2. makes certain changes in procedures for special education due process hearings and prehearing conferences;

3. changes various requirements and definitions in the state's special education law to conform to federal requirements and definitions;

4. requires that, where state and federal law conflict, local and regional boards of education comply with federal law in providing education to homeless children and youth; and

5. eliminates obsolete provisions and makes technical changes in the state special education laws.

This bill directs school boards, starting September 1, 2003, to require the schools in their districts to make available for purchase (1) dairy products, including low-fat dairy products; (2) water; (3) natural fruit juices; and (4) fresh or dried fruit at all times when food or drink is available for purchase in school buildings (§ 515).

The bill requires school boards to ensure that each child (1) in the district has an opportunity for a lunch break of at least 20 minutes every day and (2) in grades kindergarten through five has an opportunity for physical activity for at least 20 minutes per day or 100 minutes per week. It allows a special education student's planning and placement team to develop a different recess schedule for that student, if appropriate (§ 514).

The bill also:

1. requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to issue the highest level state teaching certificate to experienced, national-board-certified teachers from out-of-state without further testing or coursework unless the person does not qualify for a Connecticut certificate because of fraud, misrepresentation, criminal conviction, or similar cause;

2. requires that, as of July 1, 2005, candidates in teacher preparation programs leading to professional certification complete coursework in literacy that is based on the recommendations of the state Early Reading Success Panel and includes a clinical component (practice teaching);

3. requires the boards of trustees for the Community-Technical Colleges (CTCs), Connecticut State University System (CSU), and University of Connecticut (UConn) to develop transfer and articulation agreements concerning teacher preparation programs;

4. increases from two to three the number of early childhood learning pilot programs the education commissioner must establish in priority or transitional school districts by requiring him to establish one at Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU);

5. requires SDE to encourage local and regional boards of education to use RESCs as providers or goods and services and allows SDE to award special consideration to grant applications that indicate the use of RESC services or joint purchasing agreements among school boards for purchasing instructional or other supplies, testing materials, or food or food services (§ 510);

6. requires a RESC to notify parents, students, and the education commissioner and hold a public hearing before changing the core curriculum of an interdistrict magnet school it operates;

7. allows a retired teacher receiving Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) benefits to earn more from temporary work in a Connecticut public school without jeopardizing his monthly TRS benefit and allows a waiver of the maximum earnings cap for retired teachers reemployed in shortage areas;

8. requires local and regional school boards of education to include information on second language acquisition in their in-service training programs for certified teachers, administrators, and pupil personnel in districts where English language learners are enrolled (§ 516); and

9. as of July 1, 2005, requires that candidates in teacher preparation programs leading to professional certification complete, within the existing framework of instruction as of June 30, 2002, introductory coursework instruction on the characteristics of second language learners and second language acquisition (§ 517).

*House Amendment "A" adds provisions requiring (1) teacher preparation program candidates to complete literacy coursework starting July 1, 2005; (2) teacher preparation program articulation agreements among UConn, CSU, and the CTCs; and (3) the early childhood learning pilot program at ECSU. It eliminates provisions (1) allowing the education commissioner to give a new teacher more time to successfully complete the required beginning educator support and training (BEST) program and (2) requiring the Department of Higher Education, the State Department of Education, the CTCs, and four-year colleges and universities to design a so-called "2+2" program to allow CTC students interested in teaching to be jointly accepted into a CTC and a teacher preparation program at a four-year institution. The amendment also deletes a technical change.

*Senate Amendment "A" adds provisions on supplemental school choice program transportation grants for RESCs, school readiness grants for former priority schools, special education, educating homeless children, availability of certain healthy food and drinks for purchase when any food is available for sale in schools, school lunch breaks and recess periods, encouraging school districts to purchase goods and services jointly and through RESCs, notice and hearing requirements for core curriculum changes in RESC-run interdistrict magnet schools, salary limits for reemployed retired teachers, inclusion of information on second language acquisition in in-service training programs for teachers and other school personnel, and requirements for coursework in second language learners and second language acquisition for teacher candidates starting July 1, 2005.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2003, except for the provisions on school readiness grants for former priority schools and supplemental state grants to RESCs, which are effective on passage.

SCHOOL READINESS GRANTS FOR FORMER PRIORITY SCHOOLS (§ 513)

By law, school districts that are not priority school districts but that have certain schools where 40% or more of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches ("priority schools"), may compete for state grants of up to $ 100,000 to provide spaces in accredited or approved school readiness programs for children living in areas served by those schools. The law allocates 6. 5% of the total school readiness program appropriation for the competitive grants.

This bill allows priority schools that have received the competitive grants to remain eligible to compete for grants for five years after they cease to qualify as priority schools. It phases out the maximum grants for former priority schools over the five years as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Proposed Maximum School Readiness Grant Phase-Out for Former Priority Schools

SPECIAL EDUCATION PROVISIONS (§§501-507)

Placements

The bill allows a child requiring special education to be placed in a private facility if his local board cannot provide appropriate services, even if other public facilities are available. Under current law, a board can place a child in a private facility only if (1) the commissioner determines his needs cannot be met by a public school arrangement or (2) the public arrangements are more expensive than the private facilities, as long as the private school, institution, or agency meets the child's educational needs and offers a suitable program. The bill eliminates these provisions. It explicitly allows boards to contract with regional educational service centers for these services; current law refers to other "public arrangements. " The bill also eliminates the current requirement for contracts with private entities to describe the programs and goals for each student.

Under current law, starting with the 1987-1988 school year, no school- age child can be placed in a private facility for special education unless it has been approved by the education commissioner, or, for an out-of-state facility, by the appropriate agency. Current law does not require a child to be removed from a nonapproved program if (1) his planning and placement team (PPT) found it appropriate, (2) the commissioner approved his placement, and (3) he was there before July 7, 1987. It also allows a child to be placed in a nonapproved facility if his PPT determined before July 7, 1987 that he should be placed there for the 1987-1988 school year. The bill eliminates these obsolete provisions.

Under the bill, a child can be placed in a nonapproved facility if the education commissioner determines that (1) the program is appropriate and (2) no other approved program is appropriate and available for the child. The bill also updates and reorganizes the section concerning local school boards contracting out special education services and paying for them.

Due Process Hearings

The bill makes several changes in the procedures applicable to special education due process hearings. These changes make state law conform to the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and regulations (20 USC 1414-1415; 34 CFR 300. 505).

The bill eliminates provisions barring parents or local boards of education from raising issues at a special education due process hearing that they have not raised at a meeting of the student's planning and placement team (PPT). It also eliminates provisions specifying that the requirement that parties not raise new issues at a hearing not be construed to limit either party's right to initiate a PPT meeting at any time.

It requires, rather than allows, a court considering an appeal from the hearing officer's or local board of education's decision regarding a special education matter, to hear additional evidence at the request of a party. Current law allows the court, after reviewing the record of the due process hearing and after a hearing and oral arguments, to grant an application to present additional evidence if it finds: (1) that the due process hearing record is not complete; (2) that new evidence is necessary to equitably dispose of the appeal; or (3) probable cause that the board's or hearing officer's findings and conclusions overlooked or ignored reliable, probative, and substantial evidence.

It eliminates a local school board's right to go to a hearing when a parent or guardian refuses to consent to a pre-placement evaluation of the child but expressly allows it to ask for a hearing when a parent refuses to consent to a child's initial evaluation or his reevaluation.

Finally, it allows a hearing officer to order only a child's initial evaluation, reevaluation, or placement in a private school or facility without the consent of his parent or guardian. Under current law, the hearing officer can order any kind of special education evaluation or placement without that consent. As under current law, such orders are subject to court appeal.

Prehearing Conference

The bill eliminates a requirement that the mandatory prehearing conference for parties to a special education due process proceeding take place at least 10 days before the hearing is to begin.

Definitions

The bill makes state law conform to the federal IDEA by incorporating references to federal definitions and terms and eliminating redundant and inconsistent state provisions and definitions:

1. listing disabilities that qualify a child for special education and related services,

2. defining the eligible disabilities, and

3. requiring transitional services for special education students leaving school (20 USC 1401 et seq. ; 34 CFR 300. 7 and 300. 347(b)).

It also eliminates an inconsistent provision requiring local boards to identify children who may require special education only when they reach school age (age five). Another provision of Connecticut law makes children eligible for special education when they reach age three if they are experiencing a developmental delay. IDEA regulations expressly allow states to include such children aged three to nine (34 CFR 300. 7(b)).

HOMELESS CHILDREN (§ 508)

The bill requires local and regional boards of education to follow the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act in providing educational services to children who are homeless.

Current state law requires school districts to provide school accommodations to all children who live in the district. In addition, if a child lives in a temporary shelter, the law allows him go to school in the district where he lives permanently or in the district where the shelter is located.

McKinney-Vento requires local education agencies (LEAs) that receive federal funding to, according to the child's best interest: (1) continue a homeless child's education in his original school (the school he attended when he was permanently housed or where he was last enrolled) for the rest of the school year or, if the family becomes homeless between school years, for the following school year or (2) enroll the student in the regular school in the attendance area where he is actually living. It also requires the LEA to comply with the parent or guardian's request regarding school selection, to the extent feasible, and to make placements regardless of whether the child is living with homeless parents or has been temporarily placed elsewhere (McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, Title VII, Subtitle B, 42 U. S. C. 11431 et seq. ).

NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFICATION

The bill requires SBE to issue a Connecticut professional educator certificate (the highest level of teaching certificate the state issues) with an appropriate endorsement to any teacher who has taught for at least five years in another state and is nationally board certified, presumably by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). (An endorsement specifies the subject or grade level that a certified teacher can teach. )

SBE can still deny a certificate to such a nationally certified out-of-state teacher for the same reasons it can deny any other applicant, namely because (1) the teacher seeks the certificate through fraud or misrepresents a material fact; (2) the teacher has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude or some other crime that, in the board's opinion, would impair the standing of the state's teaching certificates; or (3) it has other due cause. A teacher who is denied certification can ask SBE to review its decision.

ARTICULATION AGREEMENTS

The bill requires the UConn, CTC, and CSU boards of trustees to develop transfer and articulation agreements concerning teacher preparation programs. The agreements must include provisions on course requirements and electives; course transfer policies and practices; admission requirements; and policies for student recruitment, information, and counseling. They must provide that CTC students will be considered for admission according to the same standards as university students.

EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING PILOT PROGRAMS

The law requires the education commissioner to establish early childhood learning pilot programs in priority or transitional school districts (districts with the greatest educational and economic need). Under current law, he must establish two programs-one in a municipality with 50,000 to 100,000 people and another in a municipality with more than 100,000 people. The bill requires him to establish a third program at ECSU. As is the case for existing programs, the ECSU program may include a laboratory school and a model day care program for 60 children ages three to five. By law, the commissioner must provide grants of $ 100,000 for each program.

CHANGE IN MAGNET SCHOOL CURRICULA (§511)

The bill allows a RESC-run interdistrict magnet schools to change its core curriculum only after considering the advice of a magnet school governance team that includes parents and guardians of the school's students and representatives of participating school districts. (The bill does not expressly require schools to have or establish such teams. ) The RESC must notify the parents and guardians of the school's students and the students themselves at least 60 days before making the changes and must hold a public hearing on it. At least 30 days before making the change, the RESC must notify the education commissioner and describe the benefits of the change and its effect on the school community.

REEMPLOYMENT OF RETIRED TEACHERS (§512)

Temporary Employment

The bill allows a retired teacher receiving TRS benefits to earn more from temporary work in a Connecticut public school without jeopardizing his monthly TRS benefit. Under current law, a retired teacher may earn no more than 45% of the entry-level salary for a teacher assigned to the same subject area. The bill allows the teacher to earn up to 45% of the maximum for the position. It conforms the law to practice by specifying that any teacher who earns more than the limit must repay the excess to the Teachers' Retirement Board (TRB). The bill also reduces the reporting requirements for employing officials by requiring them to send notice of the teacher's employment to TRB twice a year, on the last day of January and June, instead of every month.

Reemployment in Shortage or Necessary Positions

The bill allows a local or regional board of education, with TRB's prior approval, to reemploy a retired teacher for a full school year, and allows him to earn more than the 45% limit while continuing to receive his TRS benefits, in a position the education commissioner designates as a subject shortage area or in any other position the commissioner considers necessary. It also allows the school board, with prior approval of the TRB and commissioner, to extend the retired teacher's reemployment for a second school year. To obtain the approvals, the local school board must submit a written request to TRB that includes the retired teacher's assignment, its anticipated duration, and the teacher's expected rehire date. These provisions replace current law, which allows a retired teacher to be reemployed by a local board of education or a higher education constituent unit if TRB authorizes it after the local school board or the Board of Governors of Higher Education certifies that reemployment is in the school system's or unit's best interests.

Once TRB has approved the retired teacher's reemployment, the bill makes the teacher eligible for the same health insurance benefits the school system provides for its active teachers. As long as the teacher works for the system, the bill bars him from receiving benefits under the state's health plan for retired teachers or state-subsidized benefits under the health plan maintained by his last employing board of education.

The bill eliminates reemployment provisions:

1. requiring TRB to terminate retirement benefits on the first day of the month after a teacher is reemployed;

2. providing an option for a reemployed teacher, after six months' continuous reemployment, to begin making contributions to TRS again;

3. requiring a teacher who chooses to contribute to put in, and his employer to deduct, 6% of his salary (rather than 7% as for other TRS members) during his reemployment; and

4. upon his subsequent retirement, requiring a teacher who chose to contribute to receive an additional annuity equal to three times the amount of the benefit derived from his reemployment contributions, plus interest.

It grandfathers reemployed teachers making contributions under the current law as of June 30, 2003 (the day before the bill's effective date), allowing them to continue under the current law's reemployment provisions listed above.

BACKGROUND

Children Eligible for Special Education

Federal law and regulations make children eligible for special education if they have any the following: mental retardation; a hearing impairment, including deafness; a speech or language impairment; a visual impairment, including blindness; serious emotional disturbance; an orthopedic impairment; autism; traumatic brain injury; other health impairment; a specific learning disability; deaf-blindness; or multiple disabilities (34 CFR 300. 7(a)).

National Board Certification for Teachers

To be eligible for certification by the NBPTS, a public school teacher must have a valid state teaching certificate, a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution, and at least three years of teaching experience. A private school teacher who is not legally required to hold a state teaching certificate may receive board certification if she submits proof that the private school where she taught has state approval to operate.

NBPTS certification requires teachers to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and talent. They must prepare a school-site portfolio including descriptions of their practice, students' work, and videotapes of classroom activities. During two days of assessment, they participate in structured interviews, work on collaborative activities with other teachers, take a written essay exam, and work on real-life problems that confront teachers.

Early Reading Success Panel

The state's 1999 early reading success law required the education commissioner to convene a panel of elementary school teachers, school administrators, and reading research and early childhood experts to review research on how children learn to read and the knowledge and skills teachers need to teach reading effectively. The panel's report, Connecticut's Blueprint for Reading Achievement, was published in 2000 and identified specific reading and reading-related competencies important for primary-level students and teachers.

Related Bill

Section 1 of sHB 6696 (File 702) concerning reemployment of retired teachers is virtually identical to § 512 of this bill, as amended. The only differences are that this bill (1) allows a retired teacher to be reemployed at a salary that exceeds the 45% limit not only in a shortage area the education commissioner identifies but also in any other position the commissioner considered necessary and (2) requires the Teacher's Retirement Board to give prior approval for the initial reemployment of retired teacher at a salary that exceeds the limit as well as for the extension of the reemployment for a second year. sHB 6696 passed both houses as of June 3, 2003.

COMMITTEE ACTION

Education Committee

Joint Favorable Substitute Change of Reference

Appropriations Committee

Joint Favorable Substitute