Bill > SB00221

This bill, effective July 1, 2026, expands eligibility for the aspiring educators scholarship program by removing the requirement that recipients must have graduated from a public high school in an "alliance district" (a term defined in section 10-262u of the general statutes, referring to districts facing significant challenges) and instead allows any student graduating from a public high school in Connecticut to be eligible if they are enrolled in a teacher preparation program at a four-year institution of higher education. The bill also broadens the definition of an "aspiring educator" to include individuals who will teach in a subject or geographic shortage area, as identified by the Commissioner of Education, and requires the Commissioner to annually identify not only subject and geographic teacher shortage areas but also population subgroups that are underrepresented in the teaching profession, using data from the state-wide public school information system. Furthermore, the bill modifies scholarship repayment criteria to include recipients who do not teach in a certified position in Connecticut after graduation or who fail to teach in an identified shortage area they committed to teach in, and it also allows for unexpended scholarship funds to be used for plans to promote the teaching profession. The reporting requirements for the Department of Education are also updated to include data on population subgroups of scholarship recipients, not just race and ethnicity.

Education

Education Committee (Joint)

https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=SB00221&which_year=2026