AN ACT CONCERNING VARIOUS REVISIONS TO THE EDUCATION STATUTES.

1. requires the report on the operation of charter schools that the education commissioner must annually submit to the Education Committee, to instead be submitted biennially, beginning January 1, 2011;

2. requires boards of education participating in the school breakfast program to submit a financial statement on the program annually in the time and manner the commissioner requires, rather than by September 1 of the next year, and requires, rather than allows, the commissioner to require repayment to the state of funds inappropriately spent;

3. replaces the term “regional vocational-technical school” with “technical high school” throughout the statutes;

4. applies the records transfer rules applicable to Unified School District #1 (Department of Correction) to Unified School District #2 (Department of Children and Families) and, in the case of other districts and state charter schools, requires that notice of student transfer to a new school be sent to the previous school district within two business days of the student's registration;

5. requires the adjutant general of the National Guard to study whether to exempt guard members from certain state professional licensing and training requirements based on their National Guard training;

6. allows boards of education to award high school diplomas to Korean Conflict and Vietnam era veterans who left high school before graduation to serve in the armed forces, as they can already for WWII veterans;

7. requires boards of education to make their life threatening food allergy plan on their, or each school's web sites, or otherwise publicly available and provide notice of the plan's existence to students and parents upon request; and

8. changes school readiness staff qualifications, including reducing the qualifications required starting July 1, 2015, giving the education commissioner authority to determine if credits meet subject area requirements, and eliminating individual classroom requirements.

*House Amendment “A” eliminates new school nurse qualifications and adds the provisions on the veterans' diploma, food allergy plan, and school readiness staff qualifications.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2009, except for the provisions on the charter school report, records transfer, veterans' diploma, and National Guard study, which are effective on passage.

By law, when a student enrolls in a school in a new school district or state charter school, the new district or school must provide written notification of enrollment to the student's previous school district or the state charter school. The bill specifies that this must be done within two business days after the student's registration. By law, the records must be transferred to the new school within 10 days of receiving the notification.

By law, if a student transfers from Unified School District #1, the new school district or charter school must provide notice of enrollment to the unified district within 10 days of such enrollment. The unified district has 10 days to transfer the records after it receives the notification. The new district or charter school has 30 days to credit the student for all instruction received in the unified school district. The bill applies these provisions to Unified School District #2.

The bill requires the adjutant general of the National Guard to study the training its members receive and the similarities between the training and the professional training required by state agencies or departments that issue licenses or certifications. The study must evaluate the effectiveness of a program to exempt the members from meeting the professional training requirements for such licenses or certifications if the adjutant general and the licensing agency or department jointly determine that the members' training while serving in the National Guard is substantially similar to the agency or department's training. The adjutant general must report the findings to the Veterans' Affairs Committee by January 1, 2010.

By law, until July 1, 2015, there has to be a person in each school readiness classroom with (1) at least 12 early childhood education or child development credits from an accredited higher education institution and (a) a credential issued by a commissioner-approved organization, (b) an associate's degree, or (c) a four-year degree or (2) a teaching certificate with an early childhood or special education endorsement.

The bill specifies that the commissioner-approved organization must issue a childhood development associate credential or its equivalent. Additionally, it specifies that the education commissioner, after consulting with the higher education and social services commissioners, must determine if the credits meet the subject area requirements. Finally, it eliminates the option of a teaching certificate with a special education endorsement to meet the requirements.

Starting on July 1, 2015, the law requires each classroom to have a person with (1) a bachelor's degree from an accredited higher education institution in early childhood education, child development, or a related commissioner-approved field or (2) a teaching certificate with a special education or early childhood endorsement.

The bill eliminates these requirements. Instead, it requires half of the teachers in programs accepting school readiness funds to have (1) a bachelor's degree from an accredited higher education institution or (2) a teaching certificate with an early childhood education endorsement. The remaining teachers must have an associate's degree from an accredited higher education institution. Teachers meeting the requirement based on their bachelor's or associate's degree must have completed a program of study approved by the education and higher education commissioners.

On May 5, 2009, the House referred the bill to the Public Health Committee which reported a substitute, eliminating new education, continuing education, and certification requirements for school nurses and adding the provision exempting additional school nurses from meeting the experience requirement.