The Board of Education has called for a special meeting to take place this afternoon, Friday, March 17, at 4 p.m., to discuss proposed legislation in Hartford addressing Education Mandate Relief.

The meeting is scheduled to take place in the Bd. of Education conference room, which–according to an email from BoE chair Bruce Likly–is to ensure there are no access issues for members of the public who wish to attend. If larger space is needed, Likly’s email said the BoE reserves the right to move the meeting location.

Local school officials and Wilton’s legislators have long pointed to unfunded mandates from CT’s State government that require school compliance without accompanying state funding as burdensome–both in time required to fulfill mandated actions and in budgetary spending that must be allotted, regardless of what local needs truly are.

Wilton’s state representative, Gail Lavielle, has co-sponsored legislation aimed at relieving the burden of unfunded mandates on local school districts. The bill–House Bill 7276:  An Act Concerning Education Mandate Relief–is being discussed at a legislative hearing in Hartford next Monday, March 10 at 11 a.m..

She summarized the contents of the bill:

  • The regional calendar becomes optional for school districts.
  • Districts will no longer be required to provide 900 hours of alternative education to expelled students. They will have flexibility in the kind of alternative education they provide.
  • SDE (State Dept. of Ed) must purchase a digital school management and reporting software system and provide it at no cost to local BOEs and the vi-tech system. This will save districts much time and effort, as many have had to convert their own data in order to report it to SDE. (Many districts already are on one particular system, but SDE must issue an RFP).
  • Districts may restrict training in restraint and seclusion only to school staff who have direct contact with students, and any other school employees they may choose at their discretion. At the same time, districts would have to identify a crisis intervention team for such episodes.
  • When performing sexual misconduct or abuse and neglect background checks for new school employees, districts do not have to search farther back than the past 20 years.
  • A school administrator may still participate in PPT meetings for students receiving special ed services, but this is no longer required.
  • Very small districts (less than 10,000 total population, less than 3 public schools in the town, less than 2,000 resident students) may choose not to have a superintendent and just have their schools each run by a principal.

Lavielle says that residents can offer testimony regarding the bill to the Joint Committee on Education, either in person at the hearing on Monday or via email. Emailed testimony should be sent to the committee and copied (cc’d) to Lavielle. Reference HB 7276 in the email’s subject line, and include name and town. Testimony should be emailed by the end of day Monday.

For more information on the bill, visit the bill’s online webpage or read the text of the bill itself online.