Bill Text: CT SB00441 | 2010 | General Assembly | Comm Sub

Connecticut Senate Bill 441 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: An Act Concerning Parental Engagement In Schools.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-04-14 - File Number 539 [SB00441 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2010-SB00441-Comm_Sub.html

General Assembly		*Substitute Bill No. 441*
*February Session, 2010*		_____SB00441APP___040110____

AN ACT CONCERNING PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT IN SCHOOLS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2010) (a) Each local or regional board of education may establish a parent teacher advisory council for any school in the district. Such council shall make recommendations for school improvement and provide advice on school policy decisions in accordance with subsection (c) of this section.

(b) The parent teacher advisory council shall consist of seven voting members who shall be parents or guardians of students attending the school, five voting members who shall be certified teachers of the school and one voting member who shall be a certified administrator but not employed by the school. Such parent or guardian members shall be elected by the parents or guardians of students attending the school, such certified teacher members shall be elected by the certified teachers of the school and the certified administrator member shall be appointed by the local or regional board of education for the school. In the case of a high school or middle school, the membership of the council shall include two nonvoting student members elected by the student body of the school, provided such student members are enrolled in grades six through twelve.

(c) The parent teacher advisory council shall be responsible for: (1) Reviewing the fiscal objectives of the draft budget for the school and providing advice to the principal of the school before such school's budget is submitted to the superintendent of schools for the district; (2) providing advice to the principal of the school regarding revisions to the school's annual plan prior to submission of such plan to the superintendent of schools for the district; (3) participating in the hiring process of the school principal or other administrators of the school by conducting interviews of candidates and reporting on such interviews to the superintendent of schools for the school district and the local or regional board of education; and (4) providing advice on any other major policy matters affecting the school to the principal of the school, the superintendent of schools for the district and the local or regional board of education.

(d) Except as provided in subdivision (3) of subsection (c) of this section, the parent teacher advisory council shall not participate or provide advice on any matters relating to personnel decisions, including, but not limited to, the suspension or termination of school personnel or disciplinary actions.

Sec. 2. Section 10-223e of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2010):

(a) In conformance with the No Child Left Behind Act, P.L. 107-110, the Commissioner of Education shall prepare a state-wide education accountability plan, consistent with federal law and regulation. Such plan shall identify the schools and districts in need of improvement, require the development and implementation of improvement plans and utilize rewards and consequences.

(b) Public schools identified by the State Board of Education pursuant to section 10-223b of the general statutes, revision of 1958, revised to January 1, 2001, as schools in need of improvement shall: (1) Continue to be identified as schools in need of improvement, and continue to operate under school improvement plans developed pursuant to said section 10-223b through June 30, 2004; (2) on or before February 1, 2003, be evaluated by the local board of education and determined to be making sufficient or insufficient progress; (3) if found to be making insufficient progress by a local board of education, be subject to a new remediation and organization plan developed by the local board of education; (4) continue to be eligible for available federal or state aid; (5) beginning in February, 2003, be monitored by the Department of Education for adequate yearly progress, as defined in the state accountability plan prepared in accordance with subsection (a) of this section; and (6) be subject to rewards and consequences as defined in said plan.

(c) (1) Any school or school district identified as in need of improvement pursuant to subsection (a) of this section and requiring corrective action pursuant to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, P.L. 107-110, shall be designated and listed as a low achieving school or school district and shall be subject to intensified supervision and direction by the State Board of Education.

(2) Notwithstanding any provision of this title or any regulation adopted pursuant to said statutes, except as provided in subdivision (3) of this subsection, in carrying out the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, the State Board of Education shall take any of the following actions to improve student performance and remove the school or district from the list of schools or districts designated and listed as a low achieving school or district pursuant to said subdivision (1), and to address other needs of the school or district: (A) Require an operations audit to identify possible programmatic savings and an instructional audit to identify any deficits in curriculum and instruction or in the learning environment of the school or district; (B) require the local or regional board of education for such school or district to use state and federal funds for critical needs, as directed by the State Board of Education; (C) provide incentives to attract highly qualified teachers and principals; (D) direct the transfer and assignment of teachers and principals; (E) require additional training and technical assistance for parents and guardians of children attending the school or a school in the district and for teachers, principals, and central office staff members hired by the district; (F) require the local or regional board of education for the school or district to implement model curriculum, including, but not limited to, recommended textbooks, materials and supplies approved by the Department of Education; (G) identify schools for reconstitution, as may be phased in by the commissioner, as state or local charter schools, schools established pursuant to section 10-74g, or schools based on other models for school improvement, or for management by an entity other than the local or regional board of education for the district in which the school is located; (H) direct the local or regional board of education for the school or district to develop and implement a plan addressing deficits in achievement and in the learning environment as recommended in the instructional audit; (I) assign a technical assistance team to the school or district to guide school or district initiatives and report progress to the Commissioner of Education; (J) establish instructional and learning environment benchmarks for the school or district to meet as it progresses toward removal from the list of low achieving schools or districts; (K) provide funding to any proximate district to a district designated as a low achieving school district so that students in a low achieving district may attend public school in a neighboring district; (L) direct the establishment of learning academies within schools that require continuous monitoring of student performance by teacher groups; (M) require local and regional boards of education to (i) undergo training to improve their operational efficiency and effectiveness as leaders of their districts' improvement plans, and (ii) submit an annual action plan to the Commissioner of Education outlining how, when and in what manner their effectiveness shall be monitored; or (N) any combination of the actions described in this subdivision or similar, closely related actions.

(3) If a directive of the State Board of Education pursuant to subparagraph (C), (D), (E) or (L) of subdivision (2) of this subsection or a directive to implement a plan pursuant to subparagraph (H) of said subdivision affects working conditions, such directive shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of sections 10-153a to 10-153n, inclusive.

(4) The Comptroller shall, pursuant to the provisions of section 10-262i, withhold any grant funds that a town is otherwise required to appropriate to a local or regional board of education due to low academic achievement in the school district pursuant to section 10-262h. Said funds shall be transferred to the Department of Education and shall be expended by the department on behalf of the identified school district. Said funds shall be used to implement the provisions of subdivision (2) of this subsection and to offset such other local education costs that the Commissioner of Education deems appropriate to achieve school improvements. These funds shall be awarded by the commissioner to the local or regional board of education for such identified school district upon condition that said funds shall be spent in accordance with the directives of the commissioner.

(d) The State Board of Education shall monitor the progress of each school or district designated as a low achieving school or district pursuant to subdivision (1) of subsection (c) of this section and provide notice to the local or regional board of education for each such school or district of the school or district's progress toward meeting the benchmarks established by the State Board of Education pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. If a district fails to make acceptable progress toward meeting such benchmarks established by the State Board of Education and fails to make adequate yearly progress pursuant to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, P.L. 107-110, for two consecutive years while designated as a low achieving school district, the State Board of Education, after consultation with the Governor and chief elected official or officials of the district, may request that the General Assembly enact legislation authorizing that control of the district be reassigned to the State Board of Education or other authorized entity.

(e) Any school district or elementary school after two successive years of failing to make adequate yearly progress shall be designated as a low achieving school district or school and shall be evaluated by the Commissioner of Education. After such evaluation, the commissioner may require that such school district or school provide full-day kindergarten classes, summer school, extended school day, weekend classes, tutorial assistance to its students or professional development to its administrators, principals, teachers and paraprofessional teacher aides if (1) on any subpart of the third grade state-wide mastery examination, thirty per cent or more of the students in any subgroup, as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act, P.L. 107-110, do not achieve the level of proficiency or higher, or (2) the commissioner determines that it would be in the best educational interests of the school or the school district to have any of these programs. In ordering any educational program authorized by this subsection, the commissioner may limit the offering of the program to the subgroup of students that have failed to achieve proficiency as determined by this subsection, those in particular grades or those who are otherwise at substantial risk of educational failure. The costs of instituting the ordered educational programs shall be borne by the identified low achieving school district or the school district in which an identified low achieving school is located. The commissioner shall not order an educational program that costs more to implement than the total increase in the amount of the grant that a town receives pursuant to section 10-262i in any fiscal year above the prior fiscal year.

(f) The Commissioner of Education shall conduct a study, within the limits of the capacity of the Department of Education to perform such study, of academic achievement of individual students over time as measured by performance on the state-wide mastery examination in grades three to eight, inclusive. If this study evidences a pattern of continuous and substantial growth in educational performance on said examinations for individual students, then the commissioner may determine that the school district or elementary school shall not be subject to the requirements of subsection (e) of this section, but shall still comply with the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, P.L. 107-110, if applicable.

(g) (1) On and after July 1, 2010, the local or regional board of education for a school that has been designated as a low achieving school pursuant to subdivision (1) of subsection (c) of this section, shall establish, subject to the provisions of subdivision (2) of this subsection, a parent teacher advisory council, as described in section 1 of this act, for each school so designated. Such council shall have the responsibilities specified in section 1 of this act.

(2) If the Commissioner of Education determines that a school established a council, prior to July 1, 2010, that is substantially equivalent to the council described in this section, the school need not establish a new council, provided the council established prior to said date continues to operate and performs the functions described in this section.

(h) On and after July 1, 2010, the local or regional board of education for a school district that has been designated as a low achieving school district pursuant to subdivision (1) of subsection (c) of this section, shall establish a district-wide parent teacher advisory council for each school district so designated. The district-wide parent teacher council shall consist of one delegate from the parent teacher advisory council for each school in the district. Such district-wide parent teacher advisory council shall make recommendations for school district improvement and advice on school district policy decisions in accordance with this subsection. The district-wide parent teacher advisory councils shall be responsible for: (1) Reviewing the fiscal objectives of the draft budget for the school district and providing advice to the superintendent of schools for the district before such school district's budget is submitted to the local or regional board of education for the district; (2) providing advice to the superintendent of schools for the school district regarding revisions to the district's annual plan prior to submission of such plan to the local or regional board of education; and (3) providing advice on any other major policy matters affecting the school district to the superintendent of schools for the district and the local or regional board of education. The district-wide parent teacher advisory council shall not participate or provide advice on any matters relating to personnel decisions at the schools in the district, including, but not limited to, the suspension or termination of school personnel or disciplinary actions.


This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	July 1, 2010	New section
Sec. 2	July 1, 2010	10-223e

Statement of Legislative Commissioners:

In subsection (a) of section 1, the word "provide" was inserted before "advice" for accuracy. In subdivision (1) of subsection (g) of section 2 the "subject" clause was inserted after "establish" for clarity and accuracy and an "except" clause was deleted.