Senate Bill 886, An Act Implementing the Governor's Budget Recommendations Concerning Education
This bill implements the governor’s budget recommendations concerning education by maintaining ECS payments, extending minimum budget requirement exceptions and creating a new exemption for additional appropriations made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, adjusting the charter school per pupil grant and material change process, flat funding certain grants, delaying certain CTECS graduation requirements, creating an Open Choice pilot program in Danbury and Norwalk, making certain minor changes to magnet schools, delaying the separation of CTECS from SDE, and repealing the Higher Education Coordinating Council.
Information about Senate Bill 886.
Significant Impacts
Section 1: Education Cost Sharing. Maintains ECS payments at the 2021 ECS Entitlement level, reducing the projected General Fund ECS requirements by $32 million and $64 million in FY 2022 and 2023 respectively and holding districts harmless for pandemic related volatility in enrollment. The completion of the current phase-in process is also delayed from FY 2028 to FY 2030.
Sections 2-3: Minimum Budget Requirements. Extends into FY 2022 and FY 2023 the following exceptions to the MBR requirement: for towns that receive an aid reduction, towns that experienced a net reduction in their student count, districts that do not maintain a high school and pay tuition to another school district and who experience a decline in the number of resident students attending high, and districts that realize new and documentable savings. Includes an MBR exemption for additional appropriations made in response to education costs posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Section 4: Charter School Per Pupil Grant. Provides$3 million in FY 22 and FY 23 to raise the charter school per-pupil grant from $11,250 to $11,525. This will equalize the charter school per-pupil grant and the ECS Foundation level, providing additional support to the over 10,000 disproportionately disadvantaged students who attend charter schools.
Section 5: Charter School Material Change. Require charter schools requesting a change to their operating plan of greater than 20% to submit that request to the State Board of Education before April the 1st of 2 fiscal years before the school year in which the material change would be implemented. This will align the material change process and the budget process.
Sections 6-12: Grant Caps. Flat funds the Bilingual Education, Excess Cost – Student Based (Special Education), Health and Welfare Services Private Pupils, RESCs, and Adult Education in order to realize savings of approximately $72 and $77.1 million in FY 22 and FY 23 respectively.
Sections 13-14: CTECS World Language Graduation Requirement. Delays the world language graduation requirement at CTECs to save approximately $2.4 and $2.5 million in FY 22 and FY 23 respectively by delaying the need to hire 31 world language teachers at CTEC schools.
Section 15: Open Choice Pilot. Provides $275,000 in FY 22 and $900,000 in FY 23 to pilot an open choice program for up to 50 students from Danbury and 50 from Norwalk in the 2022-23 school year.
Section 16: Magnet School Enrollment Requirements. Allows the Commissioner of Education to waive out of district enrollment minimums for magnet schools in the Sheff Region and extends the ability of the State Department of Education (SDE) to set enrollment caps at magnet schools.
Section 17: Magnet School Transportation Grants. Extends the ability of the Commissioner of Education to provide supplemental transportation grants to Magnet Schools in the Sheff Region.
Section 18: Magnet School Isolation Standards. Allows the Commissioner of Education to revise the reduced isolation standards for inter-district magnet.
Sections 19-28: Technical Revisions. Replaces references to specific stipulations of the Sheff settlement to a generic reference to any stipulation or order currently in effect.
Sections 29-39: CTECS Separation. Delays the separation of CTECS from SDE from FY 2023 to FY 2024 in order to realize savings of $1.7 million from forgoing the 22 positions necessary for CTECs to function as an independent agency.
Sections 40-42: Higher Education Coordinating Council. Repeals the Higher Education Coordinating Council, which is responsible for establishing accountability measures for public institutions of higher education and is required to meet annually to receive reports by the public systems of higher education using these accountability measures. Repealing the section would relieve OPM and the HECC members of an obligation to convene annually, which has consistently resulted in a lack of quorum due to high-profile members’ scheduling conflicts. Further, the HECC’s work is duplicative of work being performed already by various other groups. The HECC is not the same as the Higher Education Consolidation Committee established in CGS 10a-55i.