Bill Text: CT HB05357 | 2014 | General Assembly | Comm Sub
Bill Title: An Act Concerning Chronic Absenteeism.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-05-01 - File Number 732 [HB05357 Detail]
Download: Connecticut-2014-HB05357-Comm_Sub.html
General Assembly |
||
February Session, 2014 |
*_____HB05357ED____032014____* |
AN ACT CONCERNING CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2014) (a) As used in this section and section 10-220 of the general statutes, as amended by this act:
(1) "Chronically absent child" means a child enrolled in a school under the jurisdiction of a local or regional board of education and has eighteen or more unexcused absences, as defined by the State Board of Education pursuant to section 10-198b of the general statutes, from school in a school year;
(2) "District chronic absenteeism rate" means the total number of chronically absent children under the jurisdiction of a local or regional board of education in the previous school year divided by the total number of children under the jurisdiction of such board for such school year; and
(3) "School chronic absenteeism rate" means the total number of chronically absent children for a school in the previous school year divided by the total number of children enrolled in such school for such school year.
(b) Each local and regional board of education that (1) has a district chronic absenteeism rate of ten per cent or greater, or (2) has a school under the jurisdiction of the board with a school chronic absenteeism rate of fifteen per cent or greater, shall establish a district school attendance review team to address chronic absenteeism at the school. The district school attendance review team may consist of school administrators, guidance counselors, school social workers, teachers and representatives from community-based programs designed to improve student attendance at school, provide assistance to students who are truant or any other appropriate services. The district school attendance review team shall be responsible for reviewing the cases of chronically absent children, discussing school interventions and community referrals for such children and making any additional recommendations for such children and their families. The school attendance review team shall meet at least monthly.
Sec. 2. Subsection (c) of section 10-220 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2014):
(c) Annually, each local and regional board of education shall submit to the Commissioner of Education a strategic school profile report for each school under its jurisdiction and for the school district as a whole. The superintendent of each local and regional school district shall present the profile report at the next regularly scheduled public meeting of the board of education after each November first. The profile report shall provide information on measures of (1) student needs, (2) school resources, including technological resources and utilization of such resources and infrastructure, (3) student and school performance, including [truancy] the number of truants and chronically absent children, as defined in section 1 of this act, (4) the number of students enrolled in an adult high school credit diploma program, pursuant to section 10-69, operated by a local or regional board of education or a regional educational service center, (5) equitable allocation of resources among its schools, (6) reduction of racial, ethnic and economic isolation, and (7) special education. For purposes of this subsection, measures of special education include (A) special education identification rates by disability, (B) rates at which special education students are exempted from mastery testing pursuant to section 10-14q, (C) expenditures for special education, including such expenditures as a percentage of total expenditures, (D) achievement data for special education students, (E) rates at which students identified as requiring special education are no longer identified as requiring special education, (F) the availability of supplemental educational services for students lacking basic educational skills, (G) the amount of special education student instructional time with nondisabled peers, (H) the number of students placed out-of-district, and (I) the actions taken by the school district to improve special education programs, as indicated by analyses of the local data provided in subparagraphs (A) to (H), inclusive, of this subdivision. The superintendent shall include in the narrative portion of the report information about parental involvement and if the district has taken measures to improve parental involvement, including, but not limited to, employment of methods to engage parents in the planning and improvement of school programs and methods to increase support to parents working at home with their children on learning activities. For purposes of this subsection, measures of truancy include the type of data that is required to be collected by the Department of Education regarding attendance and unexcused absences in order for the department to comply with federal reporting requirements and the actions taken by the local or regional board of education to reduce truancy in the school district. Such truancy data shall be considered a public record for purposes of chapter 14.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: | ||
Section 1 |
July 1, 2014 |
New section |
Sec. 2 |
July 1, 2014 |
10-220(c) |
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In section 1(b), removed two references to "for the previous school year" to avoid redundancy with definitions.
ED |
Joint Favorable Subst. |