Sec. 10-266aa. State-wide interdistrict public school attendance program.
Sec. 10-266aa. State-wide interdistrict public school attendance program. (a)
As used in this section:
(1) "Receiving district" means any school district that accepts students under the
program established pursuant to this section;
(2) "Sending district" means any school district that sends students it would otherwise be legally responsible for educating to another school district under the program; and
(3) "Minority students" means students who are "pupils of racial minorities", as
defined in section 10-226a.
(b) There is established, within available appropriations, an interdistrict public
school attendance program. The purpose of the program shall be to: (1) Improve academic achievement; (2) reduce racial, ethnic and economic isolation or preserve racial
and ethnic balance; and (3) provide a choice of educational programs for students enrolled in the public schools. The Department of Education shall provide oversight for
the program, including the setting of reasonable limits for the transportation of students
participating in the program, and may provide for the incremental expansion of the
program for the school year commencing in 2000 for each town required to participate
in the program pursuant to subsection (c) of this section.
(c) The program shall be phased in as provided in this subsection. (1) For the school
year commencing in 1998, and for each school year thereafter, the program shall be in
operation in the Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport regions. The Hartford program
shall operate as a continuation of the program described in section 10-266j. Students
who reside in Hartford, New Haven or Bridgeport may attend school in another school
district in the region and students who reside in such other school districts may attend
school in Hartford, New Haven or Bridgeport, provided, beginning with the 2001-2002
school year, the proportion of students who are not minority students to the total number
of students leaving Hartford, Bridgeport or New Haven to participate in the program
shall not be greater than the proportion of students who were not minority students in
the prior school year to the total number of students enrolled in Hartford, Bridgeport or
New Haven in the prior school year. The regional educational service center operating
the program shall make program participation decisions in accordance with the requirements of this subdivision. (2) For the school year commencing in 2000, and for each
school year thereafter, the program shall be in operation in New London, provided
beginning with the 2001-2002 school year, the proportion of students who are not minority students to the total number of students leaving New London to participate in the
program shall not be greater than the proportion of students who were not minority
students in the prior year to the total number of students enrolled in New London in the
prior school year. The regional educational service center operating the program shall
make program participation decisions in accordance with this subdivision. (3) The Department of Education may provide, within available appropriations, grants for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 2003, to the remaining regional educational service centers to assist
school districts in planning for a voluntary program of student enrollment in every
priority school district, pursuant to section 10-266p, which is interested in participating
in accordance with this subdivision. For the school year commencing in 2003, and for
each school year thereafter, the voluntary enrollment program may be in operation in
every priority school district in the state. Students from other school districts in the area
of a priority school district, as determined by the regional educational service center
pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, may attend school in the priority school district,
provided such students bring racial, ethnic and economic diversity to the priority school
district and do not increase the racial, ethnic and economic isolation in the priority school
district.
(d) School districts which received students from New London under the program
during the 2000-2001 school year shall allow such students to attend school in the district
until they graduate from high school. The attendance of such students in such program
shall not be supported by grants pursuant to subsections (f) and (g) of this section but shall
be supported, in the same amounts as provided for in said subsections, by interdistrict
cooperative grants pursuant to section 10-74d to the regional educational service centers
operating such programs.
(e) Once the program is in operation in the region served by a regional educational
service center pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, the Department of Education
shall provide an annual grant to such regional educational service center to assist school
districts in its area in administering the program and to provide staff to assist students
participating in the program to make the transition to a new school and to act as a
liaison between the parents of such students and the new school district. Each regional
educational service center shall determine which school districts in its area are located
close enough to a priority school district to make participation in the program feasible
in terms of student transportation pursuant to subsection (f) of this section, provided
any student participating in the program prior to July 1, 1999, shall be allowed to continue
to attend the same school such student attended prior to said date in the receiving district
until the student completes the highest grade in such school. Each regional educational
service center shall convene, annually, a meeting of representatives of such school districts in order for such school districts to report, by March thirty-first, the number of
spaces available for the following school year for out-of-district students under the
program. Annually, each regional educational service center shall provide a count of
such spaces to the Department of Education by April fifteenth. If there are more students
who seek to attend school in a receiving district than there are spaces available, the
regional educational service center shall assist the school district in determining attendance by the use of a lottery or lotteries designed to preserve or increase racial, ethnic
and economic diversity, except that the regional educational service center shall give
preference to siblings and to students who would otherwise attend a school that has lost
its accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges or has been
identified as in need of improvement pursuant to the No Child Left Behind Act, P.L.
107-110. The admission policies shall be consistent with section 10-15c and this section.
No receiving district shall recruit students under the program for athletic or extracurricular purposes. Each receiving district shall allow out-of-district students it accepts to
attend school in the district until they graduate from high school.
(f) The Department of Education shall provide grants to regional educational service
centers or local or regional boards of education for the reasonable cost of transportation
for students participating in the program. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, and
each fiscal year thereafter, the department shall provide such grants within available
appropriations, provided the state-wide average of such grants does not exceed an
amount equal to three thousand two hundred fifty dollars for each student transported,
except that the Commissioner of Education may grant to regional educational service
centers additional sums from funds remaining in the appropriation for such transportation services if needed to offset transportation costs that exceed such maximum amount.
The regional educational service centers shall provide reasonable transportation services
to high school students who wish to participate in supervised extracurricular activities.
For purposes of this section, the number of students transported shall be determined on
September first of each fiscal year.
(g) The Department of Education shall provide, within available appropriations, an
annual grant to the local or regional board of education for each receiving district in an
amount not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars for each out-of-district student
who attends school in the receiving district under the program. Each town which receives
funds pursuant to this subsection shall make such funds available to its local or regional
board of education in supplement to any other local appropriation, other state or federal
grant or other revenue to which the local or regional board of education is entitled.
(h) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter, each sending district and each
receiving district shall divide the number of children participating in the program who
reside in such district or attend school in such district by two for purposes of the counts
for subdivision (22) of section 10-262f and subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of section
10-261.
(i) In the case of an out-of-district student who requires special education and related
services, the sending district shall pay the receiving district an amount equal to the
difference between the reasonable cost of providing such special education and related
services to such student and the amount received by the receiving district pursuant to
subsection (g) of this section and in the case of students participating pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, the per pupil amount received pursuant to section 10-74d. The
sending district shall be eligible for reimbursement pursuant to section 10-76g.
(j) Nothing in this section shall prohibit school districts from charging tuition to
other school districts that do not have a high school pursuant to section 10-33.
(k) On or before October fifteenth of each year, the Commissioner of Education
shall determine if the enrollment in the program pursuant to subsection (c) of this section
for the fiscal year is below the number of students for which funds were appropriated.
If the commissioner determines that the enrollment is below such number, the additional
funds shall not lapse but shall be used by the commissioner in accordance with this
subsection. (1) Any amount up to five hundred thousand dollars of such nonlapsing
funds shall be used for supplemental grants to receiving districts on a pro rata basis for
each out-of-district student in the program pursuant to subsection (c) of this section who
attends the same school in the receiving district as at least nine other such out-of-district
students, not to exceed one thousand dollars per student. (2) Any remaining nonlapsing
funds shall be used for interdistrict cooperative grants pursuant to section 10-74d.
(l) For purposes of the state-wide mastery examinations under section 10-14n, students participating in the program established pursuant to this section shall be considered
residents of the school district in which they attend school.
(m) Within available appropriations, the commissioner may make grants to regional
education service centers which provide summer school educational programs approved
by the commissioner to students participating in the program.
(n) The Commissioner of Education may provide grants for children in the Hartford
program described in this section to participate in preschool and all day kindergarten
programs. In addition to the subsidy provided to the receiving district for educational
services, such grants may be used for the provision of before and after-school care
and remedial services for the preschool and kindergarten students participating in the
program.
(o) Within available appropriations, the commissioner may make grants for academic student support for programs pursuant to this section that assist the state in meeting
the goals of the 2008 stipulation and order for Milo Sheff, et al. v. William A. O'Neill,
et al., as determined by the commissioner.
(P.A. 97-290, S. 3, 29; P.A. 98-168, S. 23, 26; 98-252, S. 34, 80; P.A. 99-5, S. 1, 2; 99-289, S. 1, 11; P.A. 00-187, S.
15-17, 75; 00-220, S. 19, 43; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-1, S. 29, 54; P.A. 03-76, S. 48; 03-168, S. 2; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A.
03-6, S. 18; P.A. 04-26, S. 6; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-3, S. 78; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-3, S. 9, 10; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-5,
S. 49, 71; P.A. 08-170, S. 6.)
History: P.A. 97-290 effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 98-168 amended Subsec. (b)(3) to specify that the program is for
students enrolled in the public schools, and provided for oversight by the Department of Education, amended Subsec. (c)
to require the Hartford program to operate as a continuation of the program described in Sec. 10-266j, amended Subsec.
(d) to allow school districts to transfer students in the program to a different school if the district is changing school
attendance areas on a district-wide basis, amended Subsec. (e) to increase grant amount from $1,000 to $1,200 and to limit
requirement for after-school transportation to high school students participating in supervised extracurricular activities,
and amended Subsec. (g) to delete provision re not counting children for purposes of any other count under Secs. 10-262f
and 10-261, effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 98-252 amended Subsec. (f) to specify that the grant is provided to the board of
education and to add provision re funds to be made available to the board of education in supplement to other funds to
which the board is entitled, effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 99-5 amended Subsec. (e) to delete provision that transportation
grants be within available appropriations and to add provision that for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2000, and each fiscal
year thereafter, such grants shall be within available appropriations, effective April 9, 1999; P.A. 99-289 amended Subsec.
(b) to include the setting of reasonable transportation limits, amended Subsec. (c) to extend the time for planning grants
to include the fiscal year ending June 30, 2000, and to make the provision of such grants permissive, to renumber Subdiv.
(3) as Subdiv. (4) and to add new Subdiv. (3) re program operation in New Britain, New London, Waterbury and Windham,
to change the date in Subdiv. (4) from the school year commencing in 1999 to school year commencing in 2000, and to
substitute program operation in every priority school district for operation in every school district, amended Subsec. (d)
to increase the amount of the grant from $100,000 to $175,000, to provide for staff to assist participating students and act
as a liaison, to require the regional educational service centers to determine feasible distances for student transportation
provided students participating in the program prior to July 1, 1999, are allowed to continue to attend the same school until
they complete the highest grade in the school, to make the meetings with school districts annual, to require the reports on
spaces to be made by March thirty-first and to require the regional educational service centers to provide a count to the
department by April fifteenth, and to substitute provision allowing students to attend school in the district until they graduate
from high school for provision allowing them to complete the highest grade in the school they are attending under the
program, relettered Subsec. (e) as Subsec. (f), added new Subsec. (e) re records, amended Subsec. (f) to add "state-wide
average" and to increase the amount from $1,200 to $2,000, relettered Subsecs. (f), (g), (h) and (i) as Subsecs. (g), (h), (i)
and (j) and added Subsec. (k) re determination on level of enrollment, effective July 1, 1999; P.A. 00-187 amended Subsec.
(b) to give the department authority for the incremental expansion of the program, amended former Subsec. (f), redesignated
as Subsec. (e) pursuant to P.A. 00-220, to increase the limit for the state-wide average from $2,000 to $2,100 and added
Subsec. (l), redesignated as Subsec. (k) pursuant to P.A. 00-220, re state-wide mastery examinations, effective July 1,
2000; P.A. 00-220 deleted former Subsec. (e) re transfer of records and relettered Subsecs. (f) to (k) as (e) to (j), in new
Subsec. (e) added provision concerning the determination of the number of students transported on September first of each
fiscal year, and made technical changes, effective July 1, 2000; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-1 in Subsec. (a) defined "minority
students", in Subsec. (b) removed "state-wide" from description of the program, in Subsec. (c) deleted existing Subdiv.
(1) to remove obsolete language, renumbered part of existing Subdiv. (2) as Subdiv. (1) and part as Subdiv. (3), added
requirement in Subdiv. (1) re the proportion of students who are not minority students, added new Subdiv. (2) re New
London program, made existing Subdiv. (4) part of Subdiv. (3), in Subdiv. (3) changed the applicable fiscal year to the
fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, made the program in other priority school districts voluntary and based participation in
the voluntary program on bringing racial, ethnic and economic diversity to the priority school district, redesignated existing
Subsecs. (d) to (k) as Subsecs. (e) to (l), added new Subsec. (d) re school districts receiving students from New London,
in Subsec. (e) deleted reference to $175,000 annual grant to a regional educational service center and specified that admission
policies shall be consistent with provisions of section, in Subsec. (i) added limitation for amount in case of students
participating pursuant to Subsec. (d) and in Subsec. (k) specified that determination of enrollment is the program pursuant
to Subsec. (c), effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 03-76 made a technical change in Subsec. (a), effective June 3, 2003; P.A. 03-168 amended Subsec. (e) by making a technical change and adding provision re the No Child Left Behind Act, effective
July 1, 2003; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 amended Subsec. (f) by changing "June 30, 2000," to "June 30, 2003," and adding
provision giving commissioner discretion to grant additional money to offset transportation costs, effective August 20,
2003; P.A. 04-26 made technical changes in Subsec. (e), effective April 28, 2004; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-3 added Subsec.
(m) re summer school educational programs, effective July 1, 2005; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-3 amended Subsec. (f) to
increase maximum grant from $2,100 to $3,250 per pupil, amended Subsec. (g) to increase per pupil grant from $2,000
to $2,500 and amended Subsec. (k) to increase maximum amount that may be used for supplemental grants from $350,000
to $500,000, effective July 1, 2007; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-5 amended Sec. 41 of June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-6, added editorially
by the Revisors as Subsec. (n), to make permanent the grant supporting all day kindergarten for the Hartford program, and
added Subsecs. (o) re grants for kindergarten and preschool programs, (p) re grants for academic student support and (q)
defining "Sheff region", effective October 6, 2007; P.A. 08-170 amended Subsec. (n) to add preschool programs, deleted
former Subsec. (o) re grants for kindergarten and preschool programs in the Sheff region, redesignated existing Subsec.
(p) as Subsec. (o) and replaced provision therein re Sheff region with language re stipulation re Sheff v. O'Neill and deleted
former Subsec. (q) re definition of "Sheff region", effective July 1, 2008.
See Sec. 10-220h re transfer of student records.