Sec. 10-15. Towns to maintain schools.
Sec. 10-15. Towns to maintain schools. Public schools including kindergartens
shall be maintained in each town for at least one hundred eighty days of actual school
sessions during each year. When public school sessions are cancelled for reasons of
inclement weather or otherwise, the rescheduled sessions shall not be held on Saturday
or Sunday. Public schools may conduct weekend education programs to provide supplemental and remedial services to students. The State Board of Education (1) may authorize the shortening of any school year for a school district, a school or a portion of a
school on account of an unavoidable emergency, and (2) may authorize implementation
of scheduling of school sessions to permit full year use of facilities which may not offer
each child one hundred eighty days of school sessions within a given school year, but
which assures an opportunity for each child to average a minimum of one hundred eighty
days of school sessions per year during thirteen years of educational opportunity in the
elementary and secondary schools. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section and
section 10-16, the State Board of Education may, upon application by a local or regional
board of education, approve for any single school year, in whole or in part, a plan to
implement alternative scheduling of school sessions which assures at least four hundred
fifty hours of actual school work for nursery schools and half-day kindergartens and at
least nine hundred hours of actual school work for full-day kindergartens and grades
one to twelve, inclusive.
(1949 Rev., S. 1349; 1967, P.A. 288, S. 1; 1971, P.A. 370, S. 1; 442; 1972, P.A. 120, S. 1; P.A. 75-284; P.A. 77-614,
S. 302, 610; P.A. 78-218, S. 9; P.A. 80-241; P.A. 88-123; P.A. 98-243, S. 12, 25; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 99-1, S. 36, 51.)
History: 1967 act included kindergartens and changed usual minimum age for entrance from 6 to 5; 1971 acts rewrote
provision concerning studies of alcohol and narcotics effects to include nicotine, tobacco and all controlled drugs and their
effect on citizenship and personality as well as on health and character and specified that rescheduled school sessions may
not be held on Saturday or Sunday; 1972 act added provision allowing full year use of facilities "which may not offer each
child one hundred eighty days of school sessions within a given school year" but which will average out as 180 days per
year over 13-year course of education; P.A. 75-284 forbade discrimination on grounds of sex, religion or national origin
and required equal participation opportunities for any child in any school activity, program or course of study; P.A. 77-614 substituted commissioner of education for secretary of state board of education, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 78-218 deleted provisions dealing with age of students, discrimination and equal opportunity and deleted detailed prescribed
course of study; P.A. 80-241 added provisions concerning alternate scheduling of school sessions; P.A. 88-123 added
Subdiv. designations and in Subdiv. (1) added "for a school district, a school or a portion of school"; P.A. 98-243 added
language to set different requirements for half and full-day kindergarten programs, effective July 1, 1998; June Sp. Sess.
P.A. 99-1 authorized public schools to conduct weekend education programs to provide supplemental and remedial services
to students, effective July 1, 1999 (Revisor's note: The phrase "... full-day kindergarten and grades one to twelve, inclusive."
at the end of the section was changed editorially by the Revisors to "... full-day kindergartens and grades one to twelve,
inclusive." for consistency).
What constitutes residence of a child for school purposes. 59 C. 491. Discretion of board of education to prescribe
particular subjects is to be independently exercised. 127 C. 351. See note to chapter 106. Cited. 135 C. 582. Cited. 147 C.
374. Cited. 152 C. 151. Cited. 218 C. 1. Cited. 238 C. 1.
Cited. 26 CS 123. Health instruction and physical education courses authorized, when. 29 CS 397. Plaintiff, eligible
for public schooling, has standing to bring action for declaratory judgment that the distribution of funds for public schools
do not meet constitutional standards. 31 CS 379.