Connecticut General Statutes
Chapter 172 - Support of Public Schools. Transportation
Section 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. 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. (4) For the school year commencing July 1, 2022, there shall be a pilot program in operation in Danbury and Norwalk. The pilot program shall serve (A) up to fifty students who reside in Danbury, and such students may attend school in the school districts for the towns of New Fairfield, Brookfield, Bethel, Ridgefield and Redding, and (B) up to fifty students who reside in Norwalk, and such students may attend school in the school districts for the towns of Darien, New Canaan, Wilton, Weston and Westport. School districts which receive students from Danbury and Norwalk under the pilot program during the school year commencing July 1, 2022, shall allow such students to attend school in the district until they graduate from high school.
(d) School districts which received students from New London under the program during the school year commencing July 1, 2000, 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. 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, 2022, 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 or local or regional boards of education 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 October first of each fiscal year.
(g) (1) Except as provided in subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection, 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.
(2) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, and each fiscal year thereafter, the department shall provide, within available appropriations, an annual grant to the local or regional board of education for each receiving district if one of the following conditions are met as follows: (A) Three thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program if the number of such out-of-district students is less than two per cent of the total student population of such receiving district, (B) four thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program if the number of such out-of-district students is greater than or equal to two per cent but less than three per cent of the total student population of such receiving district, (C) six thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program if the number of such out-of-district students is greater than or equal to three per cent but less than four per cent of the total student population of such receiving district, (D) six thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program if the Commissioner of Education determines that the receiving district has an enrollment of greater than four thousand students and has increased the number of students in the program by at least fifty per cent from the previous fiscal year, or (E) eight thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program if the number of such out-of-district students is greater than or equal to four per cent of the total student population of such receiving district.
(3) (A) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, the department shall provide a grant to the local or regional board of education for each receiving district described in subdivision (4) of subsection (c) of this section in an amount of four thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who resides in Danbury or Norwalk and attends school in the receiving district under the pilot program.
(B) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, and each fiscal year thereafter, the department shall provide an annual grant to the local or regional board of education for each receiving district described in subdivision (4) of subsection (c) of this section for each out-of-district student who resides in Danbury or Norwalk and attends school in the receiving district under the pilot program in accordance with the provisions of subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection.
(C) Not later than January 1, 2025, the department shall submit a report on the pilot program in operation in Danbury and Norwalk, pursuant to subdivision (4) of subsection (c) of this section, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to education and appropriations, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a. Such report shall include, but need not be limited to, the total number of students participating in the pilot program, the number of students from each town participating in the pilot program, the total amount of the grant paid under the pilot program and the amount of the grant paid to each town participating in the pilot program.
(4) 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 March first 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 amount of such nonlapsing funds equal to or greater than five hundred thousand dollars, but less than one million dollars, shall be used for supplemental grants, in an amount determined by the commissioner, on a pro rata basis to receiving districts that report to the commissioner on or before March first of the current school year that the number of out-of-district students enrolled in such receiving district is greater than the number of out-of-district students enrolled in such receiving district from the previous school year.
(3) Any remaining nonlapsing funds shall be used by the commissioner to increase enrollment in the interdistrict public school attendance program described in this section.
(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 its obligations pursuant to the decision in Sheff v. O'Neill, 238 Conn. 1 (1996), or any related stipulation or order in effect, as determined by the Commissioner of Education.
(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; P.A. 11-48, S. 188; P.A. 12-116, S. 12; P.A. 13-108, S. 2; 13-247, S. 168; P.A. 14-217, S. 98; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5, S. 255, 318; P.A. 17-14, S. 10; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 21-2, S. 365.)
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; P.A. 11-48 amended Subsec. (b)(3) by deleting “for students enrolled in the public schools”, amended Subsec. (g) by designating existing provisions as Subdivs. (1) and (3), adding Subdiv. (2) re per pupil grant to receiving districts for each out-of-district student and making a conforming change in Subdiv. (1), amended Subsec. (k) by replacing “October fifteenth” with “March first”, replacing former Subdiv. (2) re remaining nonlapsing funds to be used for interdistrict cooperative grants with new Subdiv. (2) re nonlapsing funds in amounts from $500,000 up to $1,000,000 to be used for supplemental grants and adding Subdiv. (3) re remaining nonlapsing funds to be used to increase enrollment in interdistrict public school attendance program, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 12-116 amended Subsec. (g)(2) by replacing reference to fiscal year 2012 with reference to fiscal year 2013, replacing “in an amount equal to (A) three” with “if one of the following conditions are met as follows: (A) Three” and adding Subpara. (D) re $6,000 grant for each out-of-district student if receiving district has greater than 4,000 students and has increased number of students in program by at least 50%, effective July 1, 2012; P.A. 13-108 amended Subsec. (e) by replacing provision re annual meeting with provision re reporting requirement re number of available spaces for out-of-district students, effective July 1, 2013; P.A. 13-247 amended Subsec. (g)(2) by adding “but less than four per cent” in Subpara. (C), replacing “on October 1, 2012” with “from the previous fiscal year” in Subpara. (D), and adding new Subpara. (E) re $8,000 for each out-of-district student if the number of such out-of-district students is greater than or equal to 4 per cent of the total student population, effective July 1, 2013; P.A. 14-217 amended Subsec. (o) by adding “as extended, or the goals of the 2013 stipulation and order for Milo Sheff, et al. v. William A. O'Neill, et al.”, effective July 1, 2014; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5 amended Subsec. (f) by replacing “year” with “years”, “2003, and each fiscal year thereafter” with “2015, to June 30, 2017, inclusive” and “September” with “October”, and adding “or local or regional boards of education”, and amended Subsec. (o) by adding “as extended” re 2013 stipulation and order for Milo Sheff, et al. v. William A. O'Neill, et al., effective July 1, 2015; P.A. 17-14 amended Subsec. (e) by deleting provision re report on number of spaces available for following school year for out-of-district students, effective July 1, 2017; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 21-2 amended Subsec. (c) by adding Subdiv. (4) re pilot program in Danbury and Norwalk, amended Subsec. (d) by replacing “2000-2001 school year” with “school year commencing July 1, 2000,”, amended Subsec. (f) by replacing “fiscal years ending June 30, 2015, to June 30, 2017, inclusive” with “fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and each fiscal year thereafter”, amended Subsec. (g) by replacing “subdivision (2)” with “subdivisions (2) and (3)” in Subdiv. (1), adding new Subdiv. (3) re grants to Danbury and Norwalk, and redesignating existing Subdiv. (3) as Subdiv. (4), and amended Subsec. (o) by replacing “the goals of the 2008 stipulation and order for Milo Sheff, et al. v. William A. O'Neill, et al., as extended, or the goals of the 2013 stipulation and order for Milo Sheff, et al. v. William A. O'Neill, et al., as extended, as determined by the commissioner” with “its obligations pursuant to the decision in Sheff v. O'Neill, 238 Conn. 1 (1996), or any related stipulation or order in effect, as determined by the Commissioner of Education”, effective July 1, 2021.

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