001our in our districts work one-on-one with children to meet them where they're at and bring them along um so that they become lifelong Learners with this act we have taken a top-down approach a one-sized fits-all and told our districts forget the individual treatment forget the individual work just do what we say it is not productive it is not healthy so I really urge you to work hard to either correct or resend this bill thanks uh I'm just going to ask if there's anybody else from the public and then we can certainly engage in dialogue anybody else Pam no all right um in that case I do want to just take a moment to acknowledge our guests here this evening uh we have state senators and representatives to um engage the board and the community in
002dialogue about uh legislation impacting education and so uh please welcome state senator Rob Samson state senator Jan hokel uh state representative Leslie zubkus and state representative Liz linahan uh ladies and gentlemen thank you for joining us tonight I know I I speak on everybody's behalf uh when I express my gratitude for you taking time out to engage in this conversation I know Liz you wanted to respond to the the comments about the right to read please it here or there um there is fine you know if you guys don't mind sharing the microphone they can hear yes okay great um so first of all Faith thank you very much um you know I just want to make sure the public knows what we're doing um so thank you very much and thank you for your
003time on the board uh your work is greatly appreciated so thank you very much for that um and thanks for bringing that to our attention and I'm sure we're going to work together on that I just want to say that with the new board coming in there's going to be a lot of work that is going to be done for them to tell us what we need I think we are extremely fortunate to have anarie cullinan uh especially when it comes to this particular subject who has um had many many years of experience um with these programs itself and also um she's very familiar with the state level so I think that we are positioned as well as we can be uh to move forward and do what's right and best for chesher now that
004you bring this uh to our attention I'll be sure to work with the new and especially uh Mrs cullinan to kind of see what we can do um when it comes to getting a waiver or even just advocating for what we do here in chesher so I think that's really important thank you very much Leslie thank you um thank you faith for bringing that up um I sit on the education committee it's my first year this past year going into next year it's my second year I will tell you I love it it's a great committee to sit on um this is a huge issue when it came up we fought it because exactly what you said Faith there are schools that are above the benchmarks and they should not be put into this category
005of having to do something that they're already doing extremely well it should be focused on the schools first that aren't doing it and so that's what we've been pushing for I will tell you um I have a meeting with the two chairs coming up in a couple of weeks and uh with some superintendents and that is one of the topics um that is going to be discussed for this legislative session because they've all said they want to fix it and help and work it and we're going to hold their feet to the fire to do that so I just wanted to thank you appreciate that ladies um the we are we we have a few items that we prioritized as areas of focus for us legislatively and I'm going to share some printouts with you
006uh as as well as anybody in the community who would like to follow along and um it doesn't necessarily fall in order we do want to address the right to read uh that is something that is Faith mentioned we learned about late Friday night that uh we had not secured a waiver um and I just want to go through a little bit of the history of that not so much necessarily exclusively for your benefit but also the community uh and then hopefully we can have some quick conversation afterward about your perceptions on on the various items we raised sure Dr Solen if you wouldn't mind indulging myself and my colleagues for just a couple of minutes we do have something that we would like to present before we begin would that be okay oh that's
007great thank you all right great thank you so uh we wanted to take a moment we recognize um that elections can be hard and we work well with everybody on the dis and we want to continue to do that uh but we also think it's really important to take a moment and give thanks for thanks are due so um although my friend Tony paragini is likely going to kill me later um look at his face he knows I do this stuff um I would like to say to you as the outgoing chairman Mr paragini that we are very very thankful for the work that you put forward myself and my colleagues the entire delegation Leslie we had a flag flown in your honor over the state capital and we' like to present you with that
008slide [Applause] I'll just I'll just give a little bit of history for those who were watching um the state capitol police actually fly um a flag in honor they salute the flag in honor of him uh and they have a letter here that certifies that this happened and when it happened and uh that every single member of this delegation wanted this to happen for you because we are so thankful for you so I wanted everybody to hear that so let's take a picture [Applause] more uh I uh L representative linan has a habit of catching me off guard a lot uh but thank you very much this was very unexpected um none of us do this for this whether chair or not we're going to continue uh do what we're doing but uh it's nice
009to recognized I just want to say uh we cannot be successful if we don't have good board members and uh we have five returning members that I believe are outstanding we have two outstanding new members so the team makes this happen so uh that's want to recognize the whole board cluding faith and Andrew are not here that's a big part of success too so thank you uh I don't take compliments well for some reason so let's get back to business but thank you very much congratulations Tony and um is I passed out to uh excuse me over I'm sorry over there um we identified uh as I mentioned before a handful of items collectively uh as a board um that we felt were worthy of conversation um this is not an exhaustive list but things
010that we felt were uh manageable and priorities uh for us at different degrees um the first is the existing and potential mandates on education this is not a new to topic for anybody here obviously but um I took the time to print out uh the 50 pages worth of mandates to impact education I will email this to you because I just didn't feel Vin would kill me if I printed this many pages out um so it it's pretty comprehensive and um really is a Soup To Nuts um all sorts of items in here and I think you know our request and I I know that members of our delegation are really sensitive to this this because I've heard from you uh as actually I just got an email from Senator Samson I a half hour
011ago maybe uh with some upcoming information you know um I know that both parties and our delegation are really good about connecting with the board and with Administration to get feedback uh this is a broader issue obviously you aren't the only four who write legislation for the state of Connecticut so um any consideration that can be given into uh a period to evaluate information before it gets written into law things that go into the implementer bill make it very difficult for us to respond to um things that um have been on the law you know on the books for many years um if we could just set up a pathway to bring those up for reconsideration as well uh that may be outdated that affect Our Lives more regularly than the Contemporary issues you're navigating
012uh that sort of opportunity would really be appreciated uh By Us please gonna talk as we go through this or at the end what's your preference I certainly up to you guys I just have a comment on go ahead um so I know you and I have spoken about this your 50 pages have you uh notated which ones that we should get rid of or is it just a list of everything number one and number two as I had mentioned to you um the chairs and the uh leadership of the education committee all they talked about this past session was we want to get rid of mandates but no one is telling us what mandates so I encourage you to tell us what mandates I will fight on the committee to help you get that
013done um but we need to know I need to know because honestly when laws when we were debating these things in committee I would say well that's another mandate that's another mandate so more mandates came out this session as you know um so I need help from you guys as to say okay maybe this one but not that one or do this different or however sure and and I appreciate that request um to be fair I have not shared the list and uh ideas that I feel might be uh things that we could revisit with the board and I'd want the opportunity to do that before I you know discuss that publicly or share it for movement you know I'm I'm the superintendent but I you know represent the thoughts and feelings on this group
014so Tim you want to add a point just a point of information for Clarity on this what you're talking about is delivering something to our state delegation by a certain date by a certain point in time so that's your this is your short session coming up Fe before Fe so that's it so we would need to talk so you probably right yeah okay thank you yeah and can I add that um Leslie's right obviously the talk was let's get rid of a bunch of mandates but quite honestly when we said okay what mandates are definitely going they are ridiculous Things That No One Ever follows anyways um and I can't remember exactly what it was but it was something along the lines of towns had to celebrate totally unknown holiday that in this past back
015in like 1940 something right so it's I mean so all of those are going to go away but I you know I think it's great what we're doing but please be mindful of the fact that if we don't get our asks in there the ones that are going to go are going to be ones that likely will have very little impact so it's really important to work with us prior to February 1 that's that's helpful can I just add something to I don't know if the microphone's picking up but should so people at home can hear very good so just following up on that I I'll Echo the comments of my colleagues regarding the mandates um I'd also like to just simply say uh and it's odd for me to be saying it because I
016I think I have a perfect record of not voting for any uh mandates on a local uh Board of Ed edification but um the fact of the matter is that sometimes there might be a mandate you want uh I'll give you an example which is this past year there was a uh a mandate to uh require a financial literacy class and I was the only Senator to vote against that mandate because I was keeping in mind uh the request that I hear from my town officials all the time which is let us decide you know we believe in local control we want to make sure that uh it's our local Boards of Education running the school system and not the state or the State Board of Education and I take that very seriously I I'm
017a firm believer in local control and rightsizing government so um but but at the same time it was a difficult vote because my colleagues were very much in favor of it uh we all know that uh generally speaking these mandates uh sound good I mean even the right to read mandate you know it hasn't worked out in a favorable way for a lot of places but it sounds good and when you're a lawmaker in hardford and you've got people leaning on you don't you want kids to to have the right to read you know it's a very difficult vote so it is much um uh needed and very helpful if we hear from you guys to say this is a good one we want you to support it this is a bad one we don't
018want you to support it it'll go a long way to helping us um at least you know have something to lean on too so when I stand up on the floor of the Senate and I say I'm gonna vote no on this mandate and that is because I heard from my districts or my towns in my district and they said that this is only going to make their job more difficult thanks I we we appreciate that you know I think that's just underscoring as well the point that Liz was making about getting to you before February 1st to support you and and making those decisions and uh arming you with enough information to feel comfortable you know because I appreciate what you're saying about paint anything painted in a certain light you know can be
019pretty convincing um and it's hard when you aren't all experts in every single field that you manage law for so it's really difficult but um thank you for for that we will definitely get you information um and I think this tonight is one of the first steps in that process right trying to express what some of the challenges are for us uh kindergarten the uh change in age something we certainly support uh the challenge I think was the implementation uh it was so expedient that it it as you know presented a lot of challenges for both families and Educators uh there's a lot of information that that Beth B has shared and um you know CA and others have have shared about uh some of the Challen challenges of starting um kindergarten before age five
020and that I think we're one of three states in America that that do that uh that start before age five and so you know it's not so much the issue of moving that start date to September 1st um The Early Access that challenge we don't do that any place else and and getting in the habit of evaluating and determining you already see a lot of inequity across Connecticut and the way that people are doing it it's very subjective um just don't generally feel that's a positive thing for students so um please thank you you know I understand um the data uh that really supports that I get it right but we're also we have so few spots for daycare available in the state of Connecticut school and daycare are two entirely different things in what
021their practice is but when it comes to a parent who needs a job it doesn't matter to them which one so I guess my question to you is the waivers that are coming in are you seeing a lot of waivers um so we're still going through the process and we have had requests for waivers um and I think you know to acknowledge the the board um we also appreciate even in a community like chesher uh that can be an issue preschool access and so rather than just saying you know we're not going to provide any options um the board pivoted and is providing next year a transitional program that is reflective of uh the Early Childhood learning standards um provides a full day program along the the the treasure public schools calendar at a very
022reasonable uh $5,500 cost for the full year wow and so you know we weren't in that making that decision to profiteer we were making that decision to provide access to families that we knew would struggle to get that um how many kids can you take how many spots um right now we just opened it up was it this week or last week we opened it on Friday Friday of last week we have 18 fill so we already filled the section and we said in order to be able to accommodate families and Ure a spot that you know you're waving the evaluation process to sign up right now and we've already had 18 people we anticipate uh based on historical data that we're going to have about 60 students that fall into this birth range between
023um September 1st and and in January 1st and so to already have 18 signed up for that transitional program probably speaks one to maybe access uh to a degree to to child care um it speaks to I think faith in our school system uh that we're going to provide a tremendous program and the value but like I said we're not out to profit here we wanted to retain staff because that's a real issue that this uh law puts before communities where if we have in this let's say in this in the Chester's example 60 less students enroll um I'm going to be cutting teachers at a time when it's really hard to hire grade teachers and I might not get them back and so this retains our staff and it it keeps people imployed it
024also provides tremendous access to a tremendous you know program that um with all due respect to most child care providers can they cannot provide yeah Bravo skill so you I really commend the the board for making that decision and is there anyone um here who's been in Cheshire for more than 30 years okay do you guys remember Readiness yes okay is is this kind of similar to Readiness but beforehand so it's not age it's about ability are you looking to find to get there at some point or is it only going to be about the the four to five year age so the program that we've designed right now because we have a Continuum of services we already offer a preschool program uh for students Head Start Right um Smart startart Start and we have
025um a preschool program for students who have been identified for special services and uh peers to join and we've run that for many many years um and so we already have a Continuum this is really this program specifically is only designed for students that were born in that three Monon window um and we're only planning on doing it for the one year because we felt like you know people in the subsequent year have had time to you know understand that this was coming down the pipe and that the we also had um you know they also are probably already in an established uh Child Care situation with without having to already disclose that oh no my child's going to kindergarten and then finding out that that wasn't really available to them as the chair of
026the committee on children one of the things that uh I will be looking at this year is actually how to open up more spots um for daycare and that includes tax breaks for companies who open them on site so on and so forth by the way I've tried to do that though three times let's hope this is Magic Time number four but but hearing this can you guys put together something um that would tell me in addition to having people continue to pay the $5,500 if I were to create a grant program to bridge the gap until maybe the federal dollars for Universal prek come down or something like that what you would need um for year per year of that the biggest issue frankly that we're gonna face is space um we just don't
027have if we you know had 60 less students and that's how we're able to provide the space now and districtwide all students who are in this program will have to go to one school at Darcy and and um when we close that building in a couple of years and looking at all of the space issues that we have that's going to be the primary challenge that's why if we we had considered you know do we even talk about expanding uh Smart Start which is really subsidized and really doesn't cost us anything um if you know that's a great opportunity for families but we don't have the space to be able to accommodate it right now so I ly I think that's a great idea uh I just want to be careful because this program it's
028and you know the board made a decision under the guidance of Dr S and M uh Solano that you know we want to bridge that first year um impact of families that weren't prepared to go out and pay 20 $330,000 for daycare and cimit our system so we're going to do this for a year you know we'll see what happens during the year if the administration board want to do something different but it's not to replace daycare you know this is the early start the kids are a little younger we only get them in our program you know it's a full day it's it's full day and they're learning you know at that level so um I'm hopeful that everything else that we the team does here that that will grow in popularity I just
029don't think I want to commercialize that Beyond its attendant purpose but um your your idea sounds great if we can get more kids and Smart Start at start early on and and enourage folks yeah so so really this was uh we're fortunate that we have the space at Darcy for now um you know that's not going to be there well we'll see what happens in a few years when the school new schools open but but if it was the opposite where we were full we probably won't be able to do this and put those families in a terrible situation not being able to uh right have that the first year so but great idea thank you um in regards to the uh the waiver that's mentioned in our packet uh we had a pretty robust
030discussion about it in policy last month I think it was last month about how our School System supposed to sort of establish criteria for the waiver considering that our kindergarten teachers aren't trained in preschool right they're not certified from preschool right give or take and so there was a a question as to you know a sort of a chicken in the egg as to there was no real guy guidance from uh Department of Ed as to how we were supposed to determine what a you know who would be eligible for a waiver or not and so I think that's one of the things where we really need clarification uh as to you know as we help students transition uh into this uh new uh I guess new age group um that uh there's some guidance
031there that I don't think we have yet to receive so yeah go ahead hi um I think that you're hearing tonight is that we're really very happy that folks have followed the research and are looking to change that kindergarten starting age what puts us in an awkward position is the part in that legislation that says that um if a parent wants the district will conduct an assessment we've always uh worked under the precipice that no matter when the kids come to us we will this language has said you want them to start early and that's a terrible way to and to welcome them into your schools and to create a love of learning when a mom or a dad might be saying I I need to go back to work I need you to take
032this child for us to almost you know put a judgment on that and there isn't a really good assessment tool out there so my team has been working with companies and and evaluating all of these assessments to determine which one is going to be the best for our district and is going to do right by the children so I think everything in there is very supportive I think we would really appreciate not being bound by conducting an assessment I think I just want to add on to um Dr so and Mr GLE Miss lano's point is you know this whole thing I want to say could have been avoided if we had a longer implementation timeline right we need to do our research um specifically to the screener because this doesn't obviously impact just cheser
033um and there is no valid and reliable screener currently um to measure whether or not a child is appropriately placed at this moment in time so you're you're putting us in a situation where we have to scramble and again not appropriate so yes we welcome the change in age what we don't welcome is the pressure to have to get done tomorrow um it's just not appropriate the other thing I want to make clear and this is an extended conversation that you may want to look into is this certification Factor like Mr gripple just mentioned some teachers are prek um certified only others are K3 there needs to be some flexibility in the certification especially in this time where we're having difficulty finding Educators thank you and you know um which bring brings me to a
034question we are just four people four votes out of many 183 um so if we can't ultimately get that waiver out would something would a um an across theboard state provided waiver be helpful if we can't get it completely gone I mean like let's look at Plan B so you're you're having a hard time finding an assessment tool well if she's sitting in education and arguing that we shouldn't have to this have to do this over and over again and the answer is just know from the chairs but she says hey well what about the State Department of Education creates an assessment tool and it's for all the districts to use so that you're not scrambling on that is that at least a good second prize I would agree that yes give us some sort
035of um model but going back to write to read don't say we have to use that model sure but provide something if you if if you want to use it exactly that's what I was going to say exactly what you just said um I think I'm passing this to Senator Samson I think the intent was good the implementation was horrible and um I give you Kudos because you're able to adjust but there's a lot of school districts that are not so um I think you're unfort fortunately I think you're a littlee of the game unfortunately it's a terrible situ ation to be in so thank you I just wanted to uh interject very briefly this is a little bit awkward kind of situation the way we've got it set up here and uh you've kind
036of kind of jump in to have a have your say on anything but I do want to point out that there is another perspective on some of this stuff um the items that you're referring to a lot of them uh were part of House Bill 6880 which was an act concerning teachers and Par Educators and I just looking through the list of items that are in there I think it's extremely overreaching I voted no I don't know how my colleagues voted on that particular item but the the fact of the matter is I I believe it should be up to the town of chesher to decide what the school start date uh is for kindergarten age um or rather you know with the with the the age date you know what I'm talking about the
037timing um you know and and not to some uh bureaucracy it's certainly not the State Department of Education which has no Authority and no oversight from uh the people um the legislature um is elected just like you guys are by the residents of the the community um the uh State Department of Education is a bureaucracy created by appointment only uh it's it's highly partisan and uh it's uh in a in the current area under a democratic Administration they're um big fans of top- down uh you know uh Central planning and they're going to decide a lot of things for us if we let them so I I just not to be partisan that's not my point here I just want to point out that I don't want to leave things up to that bureaucracy to
038make decisions and I would be a strong advocate for returning as much power and autonomy back to you guys to make these decisions as possible and not simply say we're going to let the Department of Education create the mechanism to solve the problem that they've already created for you that's all so I respectfully disagree with this idea that uh we let every town in Connecticut um decide what their start date is um you know you know we have people that move from town to town let alone state to state and I just I think uh if we just have this cut off date which we do now it's it's really helpful and it's really the waiver that we're talking about this idea that that we're giving families we're giving parents and families this idea that
039well that cut off data is just a suggestion and all we have to do is assess your child if you really want them to start I was referring mostly to the assessment process more than anything that they've created this problem for you by establishing that requirement for an assessment I agree with that part but I disagree with this idea that we have a start date and now the suggestion is we're going to let them create the assessment tool and I'm like it's a chain reaction I'd much rather leave that up to you with the process I think it's uh I I love I thank you everyone that's chined in I I appreciate the fact that um you want to help the Department of Education help all school districts help us right I I will say
040this I uh I've come to a new appreciation for the Department of Education over the last couple years I spent a lot of time talking to folks there and I know Dr Russell Tucker has a lot going on I often wonder if that department is being staff enough so so yes if if our Educators uh can help them create a assessment tool will they actually be able to have the help to do it I think that's the other challenge because great ideas and I don't think any of us are questioning the intent of some of these we appreciate we know you're not the only for only four people voting all these things there's a lot more uh but I often wonder if they need more help so they can actually pull this off and a
041little bit more of a head start to miss rosenberg's point about you know instead of rushing into it now they're rushing into it with a short staff so I'm just putting that out there so I do see that I think they give some help there but yeah you're right they're very very underst staffed it's um it's a point of contention between them and the legislators all the time but if I were writing that bill it would not fall under SD it would actually fall under oec and I think oec would be able to do that much quicker or at least procure something the office of Early Childhood um I'll just add last I'll be the only other thing is they should include you in the process that's help the ones with your feet on the
042ground and so when they come up with these ideas they need to include you to say this is reality out here and this is what will work and what won't thank you and you know um maybe to address Senator Samson's Point um we C can just hit on the next few items real quick I'll present um I'm sorry was there another point over here uh before just as I this thought we'll hit to you Tim real quick but uh we'll hit on these next few items uh and I wanted to as I mentioned earlier give a quick overview of right to read and then maybe each of you could kind of chime in or ask any questions and allow the board the same opportunity Tim yeah so with regard to the kindgarten age it seems
043it makes sense to me without having seen the data that if a kid at that age is four months older they're probably going to have better outcomes later my question do you Jeff does anybody know what is the point of measurement of the outcome and by that I mean I'm a December baby I was four and a half when I started and I think I turned out okay maybe not great but I and and one of the things that my mom said to me just growing up she said every year up until third grade the chesher public school would try to keep me back a year first Readiness Readiness no I didn't do Readiness first Readiness first grade second grade third grade and every year she said no no no is he is he learning
044everything he get along with the kids and it was always yes so I just kept progressing but one thing that she would always say to me um for me in particular or what she told me she told the teachers at that time was I'd rather give him a chance to spend that year After High School rather than at home with me because he's not going to be in school for another year because he's cute and I want him home when he's little um but my question is on the measurement of the outcome is it based on the year when someone graduates high school or is it sort of the equivalent of for those younger kids incorporating that post high school year and not everyone graduates high school I get that but I'm just speaking generally
045I I think the outcome would be the measurement should be against young students who would have had that extra year because I see it as a switch out between a year of prek or a year of post High School sure so um I I can reach out to oec to see what sort of data they have available that addresses those things okay because I hear you know the the point that you're making is perfectly clear and makes sense that you know if you're starting um let's call it kindergarten early versus college early what are the different implications on either end right so yeah um I can ask if they have any sort of data around those things and not unex this to be a big discussion I don't expect anything's going to be changing on
046this I'm making a point here yeah that it's fair question measurements or outcomes should be measured against uh appropriate points data points and and they're both appropriate data points um I just wanted to uh make one more comment um I know representative Lan had made mention about uh uh federal aid for I guess prek or something like that and um so has there been a a um an analysis of the financial impact for communities that cannot afford um that additional year of of preschool because I know that like uh my wife and I we had the means to pay for that additional year and my son entered school at the age of five as one of their you know one of the oldest in his class because we thought that that was good for him
047uh but that's an ADD additional year of of uh of expense that we incurred voluntarily but now you're telling the entire state that they now have to incur that additional cost instead of sending their child at the age of four and a half so I was just wondering if anyone had thought about that Financial impact yeah you know what this happened quite a few years ago um and it hasn't it hasn't gone through but going off of memory I believe that the universal prek package was actually fully funded by the federal government so um the cost to towns was to be minimal um local municipalities because it was a federally funded program so um but we're not anywhere near that I mean uh I believe it passed the house never went to the Senate um
048and then it just sat for years it is something that Biden wants to do who knows if he'll be in um so right now I mean it's just a pie in the sky idea but um you know if the Democrats take back the house they keep the Senate and then they get the White House again maybe it'll happen and at that point the bill will completely change again and the plan will completely change so I I can't give you an answer right now because there's really nothing fully implemented I just know that it's something that federally they really want I I was more asking on the state level since this we're not doing that at the state level there is no bill to do Universal pre no no no I understand but right now A
049a citizen who has children who were anticipating having their child go at four and a half now has to come up with the money to pay for I'm sorry then I misunderstood um I'm say yeah I meant on the state level okay yeah you know what that I mean that's why we're working really hard to make sure that there are more open um slots for daycare the governor did just uh put together I believe an apprenticeship program to help um people open more home dayc carees uh once again we're going the children's committee will be put for putting forward yet another bill but see it's the short session which means that we'll put forward a bill to put um to give tax breaks to companies who pay for subsidize or open their own child care
050but then that's going to have to go to finance and God only knows if there's going to be time in a short session so I think it's probably not going to happen right away way but the conversation is happening and as you all know government sometimes moves at a you know glacial pace so I can't promise you anything's going to happen but it is very much on our radar uh that we need to help families it's one of our number one priorities thank you sure so um maybe to pick up the pace here a bit you know CU we'll be serving breakfast at the rate we're going and um so we'll hit on these items at a at a high level and then uh have some opportunity for dialogue before we close uh the first
051item was the uh the next item I should say is reading which I was going to hit upon later special education uh excess cost grant that is uh the cost of special education has risen astronomically uh we've built inhouse programs to better support our students not only because of the cost we've been doing this for years because we believe we could provide it uh better more efficiently and in our children's home neighborhood which is Meaningful for families uh but the the cost uh as I said is continue to grow the state uh has an excess cost Grant share program where uh when a student the cost of students education exceeds four and a half times the per pupil expenditure for us it's roughly $80,000 uh the money in an excess of the $80,000 uh is
052calculated across all the students we have that cost that much it goes to the state and the state theoretically gives us that money back however it's only funded at a point where they can't cover all the costs across the state so we get a fraction of that money um that those resources those uh services are hard to plan years in advance because CH kids needs change and um we have done a lot to try and make uh special education as coste effective as possible um providing full funding for that excess cross cost Grant would be very beneficial indoor air quality uh the um working group deadline um has been shifted to January 1 2026 with respect to evaluating the HVAC needs in our schools um having all schools evaluate their HVAC needs at the same
053time across Connecticut has done a lot to drive up the cost of that service um and the demand uh is just taking forever to get that sort of information um back from vendors so uh if we could address the issue of providing sufficient time to study and and uh design these things then hopefully we can better meet that Target we all believe that providing high quality or you know air um for our students and staff Community is really important but the the time frame uh really wasn't reasonable the national school lunch and breakfast programs uh the the programs are tremendous and we appreciate the um opportunity to offer them it's a federal program but the the um the thresholds you'll see in the chart for annual gross income for uh family to qualify for free
054meals the annual gross income has to be below $339,000 in Connecticut that that is not reasonable um the reason I think this doesn't get a lot attention is because we have communities in Connecticut that qualify for free meals on whole in the urban centers if you live in a community like chesher and you're not making um you know if you're making $40,000 with a family of four you don't qualify for free lunch um and to live in a cheser community with $40,000 is almost impossible so um what hasn't happened is that you know places like Connecticut haven't adjusted these for the reality of living in Connecticut where it might work in Alabama it doesn't work here so just consideration of that fact yeah I just want you to know we are considering that yeah uh
055and so the way it would work is the federal money is going to be the federal money we can't change that right the state has to put something on top of it my proposal last year was that we went to the United Way all method which Alice is asset limited income constrained and employed those are households that um are well above that poverty limit but they're adjusted for what you need to make in order to live in your local community it does go by um not even by um District it's like it's almost like a dur system right right so um we are looking at that uh but our um our uh budget you know we're we have a lot of overages but those overages are getting smaller and smaller um so I don't know
056if we'll be going to full Alice but there will be another proposal this year I mean right now we we provide free breakfast and there's Federal money you know that that was left that is providing free breakfast to all students um regardless of how much money your parents make and you know we're just thinking that a shift there would be beneficial why Alice funding would work so prevailing wage was the last item um we respectfully request you consider elevating the prevailing wage for renovation projects to at least $500,000 um right now it's at a $100,000 threshold I don't know the last time it's been um elevated V prob I don't know four years ago remember that but oh that's new construction right they only raised the new construction to a million they haven't touched the
057renovation and what we'd love to do is renovate you know do little um you ties in with the HVAC we having an HVAC evaluation done we already have actually a quote but that's a renovation job and you know this is is relevant to us for that just to manage your expectations the current political climate that it's likely too large of an ask to pass right I'm just letting you know this has been on your agenda for years and every year I put it in every we're still talking about it so yeah I I think um it's one of those things where we don't want it forgotten I don't know that it has been forgotten but um but I always tell you where it's at yeah yeah yeah I appreciate you guys being for oh sorry
058no you're I'm here to listen to you yeah I'm just were we going to cut over to the right to read because I just had one other thing I want wanted to mention before we get to that so yep we're going to go to right to read now for a minute but go ahead yeah no I just I I don't know if this was our opportunity to talk about the few items that justs much shorter this year but the conversation is is longer but I just address things very you know just back to the the start of this conversation which was the right to read and the mandates and so forth um just to clarify my position which is that the State Department of Education certainly has a role to play but I I want
059to see their role more as an advisory one we got remember that you know we we live in a representative system and you know people are elected to make decisions uh it's the only way our system truly works when you have people that are poed to positions that that cannot be removed you know and can uh hold a lot of power um it's danger I just discourage any um efforts to empower the State Department of Education in ways that make your lives more difficult and you know the thing is the balance of power shifts the balance of power shifts in the Town Country balance of power will eventually shift in the state and in the country um and it should be the elected people that have the chance to make the changes at that time
060if it's all in the regulatory scheme and the bureaucracy it'll be hard for either party to dig out from changes that the other one made when they were in the power to make that happen um you mentioned the excess cost Grant thing obviously that is a big concern um there's not enough time here to discuss the problems with the way our state budgets money um you listed half a dozen things in this conversation um just since we've been here that the state of Connecticut has promised to towns to constituents uh that they haven't kept um you know the uh the funding for uh School Lunes you know promises made promises not kept um you know the funding for uh the ex excess cost Grant uh and so forth those are just all part of that
061we've got to make a point of holding our elected officials even if they're in the same party that we uh Define ourselves at we gota we have to hold them just as accountable as we would people in the other party and and I try and do that myself um the labor policy um the prevailing wage issue I happen to be the ranking member of the uh labor committee uh and every year I bring uh a number of the labor issues you've brought to us in the past um uh forward including that prevailing wage issue uh and I've asked my colleagues on this panel to help support me and um I would just encourage them to come back next year uh because we can actually get something like that done if I had some democrat support
062in that committee and that's what needs to happen Okay but but it would make a big difference uh between you and me representative if I went to Senator Kushner who's the Senate chair of the labor committee and I said I have two Democrats from one of my towns who will support support this initiative even if we moved it a modest amount I think we could get something some inertia going that's all I appreciate the um positivity but I I have to be completely honest knowing the entire caucus and knowing the speaker and knowing the governor and I just don't see it happening and I would love to tell you I'll be your biggest cheerleader with the largest pom poms in the place but I'm also going to always be honest and serious that I do
063not believe there will be any movement the only thing I'll add to that is if we come as a force it may not happen but if we're all on the same page and we all come through at least we're working for you because that's our job I would encourage matters we don't know if we don't try we have not tried okay Leslie and I have put the bill in every year I'm not trying to call out my colleagues here but it's not a matter of just the other legislators we need somebody you know um if the the municipality is asking us for something I believe it's our obligation to try and carry that water and I do it every time um and that's it I just want to make one final comment about the the
064agenda I noticed that Juvenile Justice Reform which is something that I think is still a major issue and something that's been on your uh agenda the last several times I was just curious why it was missing but this is the Board of Ed not the Town Council so they don't really get involved in that and well okay um point taken although I do think that uh it's a factor when you're talking about Juvenile Justice um and the fact that um you know we're witnessing uh greater crimes at younger ages and it's certainly impacting the school system in numerous ways um but I since it's not on the agenda we won't talk about it tonight but I just do think it's something that is worth discussing uh down the road that's all and just a final
065comment about all of this which is I encourage you to track US I mean you guys know what you want to see from policy please follow what we're doing know that our rhetoric matches our actions um it's very very important to me it's one of the great frustrations I have is that I um people say a lot of things but when it comes to actually doing them that's a big difference all right with um that I know we have a number of comments can can we just hit the right to read and then close the whole story at the end um and unfortunately because we're having some technical issues can uh I asked that the board move down behind the the tables there so you can actually see the present thank you sorry for the
066inconvenience yes we got front row [Music] seats you know as I mentioned at the uh beginning that you know I appreciate that members of the delegation probably have a much better sense of what's going on but you know for the benefit of anybody who may be watching is well I just