OLR Bill Analysis

sHB 5869

AN ACT CONCERNING AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION.

SUMMARY:

This bill increases the state's per-student grant to districts operating vocational agriculture (vo ag) centers by $ 150, from $ 1,355 to $ 1,505. Centers receive the state grant for each full-time secondary school student they enrolled on the preceding October 1.

The bill also expands the enrollment opportunities school districts that do not operate vo ag centers must offer to students who wish to attend a center in another district.

Finally, the bill changes the statutory name for the education offered at vo ag centers from vocational agriculture education to agricultural science and technology education and changes the name of the centers to conform.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2008

VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE ENROLLMENT OPPORTUNITIES

By law, school districts that do not furnish vo ag training must designate where their students can receive such training. The bill requires districts not operating vo ag centers to provide enrollment opportunities in one or more centers, not just one center, run by other districts. And if a district provided opportunities for its students to enroll in more than one center as of July 1, 2007, the bill requires it to continue to do so in the numbers required by the current law and the bill.

Current law requires a school district that does not maintain a center to allow its students to enroll in another district's center in numbers that are at least equal to (1) the number specified in any written agreement it has with a center or (2) if there is no written agreement, the average number of its students enrolled in the center during the three previous school years. The bill requires districts to, in addition, provide enrollment opportunities for 9^th graders in each center it designates that are at least equal to (1) the number of 9^th graders specified in its written agreement with each center or (2) the average number of 9^th graders that enrolled in each designated center or centers over the preceding three years.

COMMITTEE ACTION

Education Committee

Joint Favorable Substitute Change of Reference

Appropriations Committee

Joint Favorable Substitute