OLR Bill Analysis

sHB 5869 (as amended by House “A”)*

AN ACT CONCERNING AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION.

SUMMARY:

This bill expands the enrollment opportunities school districts that do not operate vocational agriculture (vo ag) centers must offer to students who wish to attend a center in another district.

It also 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.

*House Amendment “A” eliminates a $ 150 increase in the state's annual per-student grant to districts operating vo ag centers. It also requires districts not operating centers to continue to offer opportunities for their students to enroll in more than one vo ag center if they offered such opportunities for the 2007-08 school year, rather than if they did so on July 1, 2007.

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 in the school year starting July 1, 2007, the bill requires it to continue to do so in the numbers required by 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