Raised Bill No. 6884 proposes several changes to the education system in Connecticut, with a focus on improving the teaching profession. The bill sets a minimum salary for teachers at four times the federal poverty level and offers a $500 personal income tax credit for educators with initial or provisional certificates. It also enhances retirement benefits for teachers who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic, discontinues the edTPA assessment, and changes the language from "due and sufficient cause" to "just cause" for terminating a tenured teacher's contract.

The bill modifies the arbitration process by eliminating the arbitration panel and replacing it with a single arbitrator, who must conclude hearings within 25 days and issue a decision within 20 days. It also changes the factors an arbitrator must consider, including the financial capability of the town or towns within the school district, and establishes presumptions regarding the maintenance of salary schedules and health care benefits. The bill further amends the process for handling complaints of prohibited practices in labor relations and updates the age at which children are eligible to attend public schools. Additionally, it introduces provisions for play-based learning, professional development for educators, and the expansion of the State Board of Education to include nonvoting teacher members. Finally, the bill establishes a Teacher Advisory Committee and a task force to study the financing of the teachers' retirement system, while also redefining harassment and threatening in the second degree, with increased penalties when the victim is an educator.

Statutes affected:
Raised Bill: 10-183g, 10-153f, 10-15c, 10-1