You asked why local school districts do not have to provide continuing education units (CEUs) for their teachers.

The law requires teachers holding Connecticut professional teaching certificates (the highest-level certificate the state issues) to complete 90 hours of continuing education every five years in order to maintain certification. Every year, local and regional boards of education are required to make at least 18 hours of professional development activities available to their teachers for CEU credit at no cost. The law allows boards to make these activities available directly or through a regional education service center (RESC), a cooperative arrangement with another board, or by arrangement with any CEU provider approved by the State Board of Education (SBE). In addition, boards may approve CEU credit for professional development activities chosen by an individual employee (CGS § 10-145b(l)).

These CEU requirements were first enacted in 1988 (P. A. 88-273). The legislative debate on the act, which also addressed various other teacher certification requirements, did not specifically address the rationale for allowing local boards of education options for providing annual professional development for teachers. It is likely that the General Assembly was seeking to give local boards of education and teachers a broader range of professional development choices and ways

of implementing professional development requirements. For example, the act changed the law to allow the types of annual professional development activities to be chosen locally, instead of by the SBE, as had been previously required.

In conjunction with this grant of local control, state law and SBE regulations set certain requirements for annual professional development activities, whether offered directly by a board of education or through approved CEU providers, RESCs, or cooperative arrangements. These are that:

1. in choosing the annual CEU activities it will offer, the board seek the advice and help of its teachers, including its teachers' union, and

2. that the board and the teachers' union agree on the time and place for the activities.

State law and regulations also require each local board to attest every year to the State Department of Education that annual CEU activities:

1. are planned in response to identified needs,

2. are provided by appropriate qualified instructors,

3. share their requirements with participants before they start,

4. are evaluated for their effectiveness and contribution to attainment of school or district-wide goals, and

5. are documented according to SBE-established procedures (CGS § 10-145b(1)(2)); Regs. Ct. State Agencies § 10-145d-417 (c)).

JL: dw