Radiofree West Hartford - 2007 - Proposed CT Legislation Marching This State To Socialism by Judy Aron

2007 - Proposed CT Legislation

Marching This State To Socialism

By Judy Aron

March 13, 2007

HB6969 - AN ACT CONCERNING UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE COVERAGE.
To provide health care access to all Connecticut citizens, reduce the average cost of health care and increase productivity for a healthier economy.

Establishing and Expanding Health Care in Schools

HB7366 - AN ACT CONCERNING SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CLINICS AND COMMUNITY-BASED HEALTH CENTERS. - To enhance and expand services provided by school-based and federally qualified health clinics.

HB5074 - AN ACT INCREASING FUNDING FOR SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTERS. To increase funding for school-based health centers.

HB6194- AN ACT CONCERNING A SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTER AT ROGERS PARK MIDDLE SCHOOL IN DANBURY.- To establish a school-based health center at Rogers Park Middle School in Danbury.

SB175 - AN ACT CONCERNING AN APPROPRIATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTERS. To provide funding to allow school-based health centers to provide mental health services.

HB6336 - AN ACT CONCERNING AN APPROPRIATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES AT SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTERS IN THE TOWN OF STAMFORD. To address the growing need for mental health and psychiatric services in school based health centers.

SB676 - AN ACT CONCERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTERS IN EASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT. To establish school-based health centers in schools in eastern and southeastern Connecticut where there are many children in need of heath care.

SB669 - AN ACT APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTERS. To provide adequate funding for school-based health centers.

HB6331 - AN ACT CONCERNING AN APPROPRIATION FOR EXPANSION OF SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTERS. To provide funding to expand the operations and services of school-based health centers.

SB667 - AN ACT CONCERNING FUNDING FOR LOCAL PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENTS.- To restore funding for local health departments in order to improve their ability to meet increasing local health demands, including, but not limited to, emergency preparedness; and to increase per capita aid to health districts by fifty per cent.

SB688 - AN ACT CONCERNING STATE ENHANCEMENT TO THE FEDERAL SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTAL FOOD PROGRAM FOR WOMEN, INFANTS AND CHILDREN. - To establish a state-funded program substantially similar to the federal Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children.

SB1220 - AN ACT CONCERNING THE BIRTH-TO-THREE PROGRAM.- To amend the criteria for eligibility and provider qualifications under the birth-to-three program. eligibility for services under the birth-to-three program may include, but need not be limited to, the following: (i) Low birthweight; (ii) reduced gestation; (iii) maternal age at the time of the child's birth; (iv) family violence; (v) family substance abuse; (vi) a history of being in the care or custody of the Commissioner of Children and Families; or (vii) prolonged hospital admissions.

Establishing Universal Taxpayer Funded Preschool

SB357 - AN ACT CONCERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A UNIVERSAL SCHOOL READINESS PROGRAM. - To improve the school readiness of children. That the general statutes be amended to provide for a universal, state-funded, quality early childhood education program with focus on pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten. Such program shall be phased in over a period of five years and take into account existing private early childhood education programs.

SB501 - AN ACT CONCERNING UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL EDUCATION IN CERTAIN CITIES.- To provide for universal preschool education in the large cities by 2012.

SB920 - AN ACT CONCERNING STAMFORD'S SCHOOL READINESS PROGRAM.
To provide financial assistance for Stamford's efforts to expand its existing and highly successful school readiness program through the creation of a laboratory school and related teacher training activities.

HB5845 - AN ACT CONCERNING FUNDING FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAMS. To increase funding available for early childhood education programs to increase capacity of districts to serve students.

HB7355 - AN ACT CONCERNING A STUDY OF UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL.
To require a study of the feasibility of expanding preschool availability to four year olds.

Section 1. (Effective July 1, 2007) (a) The Early Childhood Education Cabinet, established pursuant to section 10-16s of the general statutes, shall study the feasibility of expanding preschool availability to all four-year olds in this state. The cabinet shall study the provision of preschool to all four year olds living (1) in priority school districts pursuant to section 10-266p of the general statutes, (2) in school districts that have a priority school, as defined in section 10-16p of the general statutes, and (3) in all remaining school districts. The cabinet shall assess the feasibility of the provision of such preschool for each of the categories of school districts in subdivisions (1) to (3), inclusive, of this subsection, individually. In determining the feasibility of providing preschool for all four year olds living in the school districts described in said subdivisions (1) to (3), inclusive, the cabinet shall consider: (A) Costs of providing for such preschool, including the operating and capital costs, (B) additional space and facility requirements, (C) number of eligible students, (D) number of additional teachers required and training and qualifications, (E) possible funding, including grants or bonding by the state and fees paid by parents based on a sliding scale, and (F) program standards. The cabinet shall also consider ways to maximize the use of private providers of early childhood education that meet the standards established by the Department of Education, in accordance with the provisions of section 10-16p of the general statutes.

HB7360 - AN ACT CONCERNING TRANSITION FROM PRESCHOOL TO SCHOOL.- To require the Department of Education to develop assessments for children in grades kindergarten to three, inclusive.

SB1282 - AN ACT CONCERNING MODEL EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING PROGRAMS.- To amend the pilot early childhood learning grant program to eliminate some of the grant eligibility limitations and add that the programs be eligible for five years and associated with institutions of higher education.

CT Extending Compulsory School age - 5 to 18 - and delineating younger ages to prepare for Pre-K component, and making kindergarten full day.

SB356 - AN ACT CONCERNING THE AGE FOR KINDERGARTEN ADMISSION.-
To require kindergarten students to have turned five years old by September first.

SB487 - AN ACT CONCERNING THE AGE OF ENTRANCE FOR KINDERGARTEN. To provide that children may attend kindergarten if they turn age five on or before the first day of September of any school year, beginning in the 2011-2012 school year.

HB5878 - AN ACT CONCERNING THE CUT-OFF DATE FOR KINDERGARTEN ADMISSION. To establish a September first cut-off date for kindergarten admission.

HB5886 - AN ACT CONCERNING THE AGE AT WHICH A CHILD CAN WITHDRAW FROM PUBLIC EDUCATION. To raise the age from sixteen to eighteen at which a child can withdraw from public education with parental permission.

HB6741 - AN ACT CONCERNING THE ELIGIBILITY AGE FOR FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN. To give towns the option to limit full-day kindergarten eligibility based on child development standards.

HB6524 - AN ACT CONCERNING UNIVERSAL FULL-DAY KINDERGARTEN.
To give all students in the state an opportunity to attend a full day of kindergarten in order to help develop social and educational skills.

The School "Weight Police" in YOUR Home

HB5353 - AN ACT CONCERNING THE PREVENTION OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY.
To prevent childhood obesity. That chapter 169 of the general statutes be amended to require (1) each local or regional board of education to require each pupil enrolled in the public schools to have a body mass index test in grade six, and (2) that parents and guardians be consulted regarding the results of the test.

HB7350 - AN ACT CONCERNING THE PREVENTION OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY.
To prevent childhood obesity.- Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2007) Each local and regional board of education shall provide for an assessment of the body mass index of each child enrolled in the sixth grade in schools under the board's jurisdiction. The school shall notify the parent or guardian of each such child of the results of such assessment and whether such results qualify the child as being underweight, at a healthy weight, at risk of becoming overweight or overweight based on percentiles for the age and the gender of the child published by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For purposes of this section, a child is (1) underweight if the child's body mass index is in a range that is less than the fifth percentile, (2) at a healthy weight if the child's body mass index is at or above the fifth percentile, but less than the eighty-fifth percentile, (3) at risk of becoming overweight if the child's body mass index is in the range that is greater than the eighty-fifth percentile, but less than the ninety-fifth percentile, or (4) overweight if the child's body mass index is in the range that is greater than the ninety-fifth percentile.

Will Private Schools Be Subsumed Under Public Schools?

HB5875 - AN ACT CONCERNING A PUBLIC-PRIVATE-PAROCHIAL EDUCATION COMMISSION. To establish a Public-Private-Parochial Education Commission to study school funding and constitutional issues such as the separation of church and state.

Later School Start Times

HB6192- AN ACT CONCERNING A PROGRAM TO INCENTIVIZE SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO START HIGH SCHOOL NO EARLIER THAN NINE O'CLOCK A.M.- To provide monetary incentives for schools to start at 9 a.m.

Socialism - and complete with kids being mandated to study Chinese and join the Youth Corps ! The school will be the parent now to teach your children their version of life skills and parenting

SB502 - AN ACT CONCERNING A PLAN TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS STUDYING CHINESE.- To prepare students to deal with the largest single group of people in the world and our largest trading partner.

SB913 - AN ACT CONCERNING A CONNECTICUT YOUTH CORPS.- To create a Connecticut Youth Corps consisting of high school students in their junior year, who will be assigned to various public service jobs around the state based on a student's essay from the Who Wants to Change the World student contest.

HB6759 - AN ACT CONCERNING LIFE SKILLS STUDIES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
To require students to complete a course in life skills management prior to graduating from high school.

HB6724 - AN ACT CONCERNING PARENTING EDUCATION.- To require a program of parenting education to provide students with essential information on parenting and the needs of a child.

The State is Standardizing Graduation Requirements and Local Control Will Be Lost - The State Will Determine Proficiency

HB1410 - AN ACT CONCERNING HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM AND GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS REFORM. To enhance high school graduation requirements and to require a score of proficient or higher on the tenth grade mastery test for graduation.

==================================

Two Good Bills Promoting Parental Rights

HB6202 - AN ACT CONCERNING PSYCHIATRIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN AND PROCEDURAL SAFEGUARDS FOR PARENTS.- To expand the current procedural safeguards regarding a parent's right to informed consent and right to refuse psychiatric or psychological testing and evaluation of their child.

HB5883 - AN ACT CONCERNING WITHDRAWAL FROM SCHOOL.- To allow parents to home school their children and to require the board of education to respect their decision.