New Education Bills Signed into Law

Help for Students with Dyslexia and Promoting CPR Training

Hartford, CT – Senator Toni Boucher (R- Wilton) and Ranking Member on the Education Committee announced today the implementation of several Education bills passed during the 2015 Legislative session. A number of the bills were ideas introduced by constituents and advocates in the district.

“Many of these bills will make a difference immediately in a child’s life,” said Sen. Boucher.

An Act Concerning the Inclusion of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training is one such bill. The CPR bill as it is known would require school districts to train students in Cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It also allows boards of education to accept gifts, grants, and donations (including in-kind donations) to purchase equipment or material needed to provide CPR instruction in public schools.

“Training students in CPR will fill schools, as well as entire communities, with lifesavers. Students in possession of CPR skills won’t be afraid to take action if they witness an unresponsive person who is not breathing or not breathing normally. They will know to call 911 and to begin pushing hard and fast on the center of the chest, becoming the first link in the chain of survival,” added Sen. Boucher.

An Act Concerning Students with Dyslexia a type of “specific learning disability” that impacts reading, specifically spelling, decoding words, and fluent word recognition.

The bill also designates someone in the State Board of Education to work with parents and school districts in getting students tested and into a program that will help them. Teachers are also to include dyslexia into their training.

Other bills of note include a focus on reading which Sen. Boucher says is the key to everything.

• An Act Implementing the Recommendations of the Achievement Gap Task Force Concerning the Creation of a Director of Reading Initiatives at the Department of Education
• An Act Concerning Teacher Certification Requirements for Shortage Areas, Interstate Agreements for Teacher Certification Reciprocity, Minority Teacher Recruitment and Retention and Cultural Competency Instruction
• An Act Concerning Teacher Preparation Program Efficacy
• An Act Concerning Collaboration Between Boards of Education and School Resource Officers and the Collection and Reporting of Data on School
• Safe Use of Social Media and Computer Programming Instruction in the Public School Curriculum
• An Act Concerning Out of School Suspensions and Expulsions for Students in Preschool and Grades Kindergarten to Second

A new law prohibits local and regional boards of education, inter-district magnet schools, and charter schools from imposing out-of-school suspensions or expulsions on students enrolled in preschool programs or in grades kindergarten through second grade.

The exceptions:

• Conduct is of a violent or sexual nature that endangers others,
• Requiring expulsions for preschool students who bring a firearm to school
• Requiring expulsions for kindergarten through grade two students who possess firearms or certain other weapons or sell or distribute controlled substances.

Additionally, the new law requires existing school-based primary mental health programs to identify children experiencing behavioral or disciplinary problems.

For more information on these bills and others contact Senator Boucher’s office by email at [email protected] or call 860-240-0465.