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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 5329
February Session, 2026
AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE CONNECTICUT EDUCATION
INNOVATION GRANT PROGRAM.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2026) (a) For the fiscal year ending 1
June 30, 2027, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Department of 2
Education shall establish a competitive grant program to be known as 3
the "Connecticut Education Innovation Grant Program" to fund 4
educational innovations in schools. When awarding grants under said 5
grant program, the department shall prioritize education innovation 6
project proposals that are designed to improve one or more of the 7
following: (1) Early literacy and numeracy outcomes for students from 8
birth to grade eight, inclusive, (2) access to and the impact of high -9
dosage tutoring in reading and mathematics, (3) college, career and 10
service navigation for students and families, (4) career and early college 11
pathways for students in middle school and high school, (5) effective 12
family and community engagement, including, but not limited to, 13
language access, (6) staffing and talent management models, including, 14
but not limited to, differentiated compensation, master educator and 15
team-teaching models, (7) district and administrative structures, and (8) 16
play-based learning, as defined in section 10-24f of the general statutes. 17
(b) Any local or regional board of education, regional educational 18
service center, governing council of a charter school or other public or 19
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nonprofit education provider approved by the Commissioner of 20
Education may apply, in the form and manner specified by the 21
commissioner, for a grant under the Connecticut Education Innovation 22
Grant Program to plan, implement or scale an education innovation 23
project. Each grant application shall include, but need not be limited to, 24
(1) a description of the education challenge to be addressed and the 25
student population to be served, (2) a plan of action and description of 26
the proposed activities, (3) the baseline data and proposed outcome 27
measures, including, but not limited to, targets for student achievement 28
and other relevant indicators, (4) implementation steps and timelines, 29
and (5) a plan for evaluating the effectiveness of and sharing lessons 30
from the project. 31
(c) The Department of Education shall award grants under the 32
Connecticut Education Innovation Grant Program for the following 33
durations: (1) A period of not more than one year for planning grants, 34
and (2) a period of not more than three years for implementation and 35
scale grants. 36
(d) (1) Any applicant for a grant under the Connecticut Education 37
Innovation Grant Program may request a waiver from the 38
Commissioner of Education of one or more statutory or regulatory 39
requirements that such recipient demonstrates are a significant barrier 40
to the design or implementation of the education innovation project. 41
(2) The commissioner may grant such waiver request for a specified 42
period of time, not to exceed the duration of the grant, if the 43
commissioner finds the (A) waiver is necessary to carry out the project, 44
(B) project is designed to improve student outcomes, and (C) applicant 45
established clear and measurable goals for the project. The 46
commissioner shall not waive the provisions of part I of chapter 166 of 47
the general statutes, chapters 169 and 172 of the general statutes and 48
sections 10-14n to 10-14w, inclusive, 10-15, 10-16, 10-16b, 10-76d, 10-186, 49
10-221a, 10 -223e, 10 -226a to 10 -226h, inclusive, and 10 -233c of the 50
general statutes, any requirement related to a state-approved literacy or 51
numeracy instructional model or any requirement of federal law. 52
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(3) The commissioner may terminate a waiver prior to the expiration 53
of the waiver period or grant period if the commissioner determines that 54
(A) an applicant has failed to make satisfactory progress toward the 55
goals of the project, or (B) continuation of the project is inconsistent with 56
state education goals. 57
(e) (1) Each recipient of a grant under the Connecticut Education 58
Innovation Grant Program shall submit, at such time and in such 59
manner as specified by the Department of Education, a report to the 60
department on the implementation and results of the education 61
innovation project, including, but not limited to, data on student 62
outcomes disaggregated by grade, school and student subgroup in a 63
manner that complies with the requirements of the Family Educational 64
Rights and Privacy Act, 20 USC 1232g, as amended from time to time. 65
Such report shall be submitted not less than annually, until at least one 66
year after the termination of the grant period. 67
(2) Not later than January 1, 2028, and annually thereafter, the 68
Department of Education shall submit, in accordance with the 69
provisions of section 11 -4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing 70
committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 71
relating to education a report summarizing the grants awarded, 72
outcomes achieved and promising practices identified under the 73
Connecticut Education Innovation Grant Program during the prior 74
fiscal year. 75
(f) There is established an account to be known as the " Connecticut 76
education innovation fund ", which shall be a separate, nonlapsing 77
account. The account shall contain any moneys required by law to be 78
deposited in the account. Moneys in the account shall be expended by 79
the Department of Education for the purposes of the Connecticut 80
Education Innovation Grant Program. 81
Sec. 2. Section 10-262j of the 2026 supplement to the general statutes 82
is amended by adding subsection (l) as follows (Effective July 1, 2026): 83
(NEW) (l) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027, and each fiscal year 84
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thereafter, any district that has received a grant under the Connecticut 85
Education Innovation Grant Program, established pursuant to section 1 86
of this act, during such fiscal year shall not be required to include the 87
amount of such grant in the calculation of such district's budgeted 88
appropriation for education for the subsequent fiscal year. 89
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2026 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2026 10-262j(l)
ED Joint Favorable Subst. C/R APP