(a) The Department of Education shall, within available appropriations and after payments made pursuant to section 10-266j and for purposes of subsection (d) of section 10-266aa, maintain a competitive grant program for the purpose of assisting local and regional boards of education, regional educational service centers and nonsectarian nonprofit organizations approved by the Commissioner of Education with the establishment and operation of interdistrict cooperative programs. Such programs may include programs pursuant to section 10266bb, lighthouse schools, as defined in section 10266cc, and programs conducted by interdistrict magnet schools, provided such magnet school programs (1) are conducted at the magnet school, (2) primarily serve children not enrolled in the magnet school, and (3) are not programs for which a local or regional board of education or a regional educational service center receives funds pursuant to section 10-264h or 10-264l.

(b) To be eligible for a grant under this section, each application shall be submitted pursuant to a cooperative arrangement on behalf of two or more local or regional boards of education, by a regional educational service center solely or pursuant to a cooperative arrangement with one or more local or regional boards of education, by a nonsectarian nonprofit organization approved by the commissioner or, in the case of a lighthouse school, by a local or regional board of education or regional educational service center. Applications shall be submitted annually to the Commissioner of Education at such times and in such manner as the commissioner prescribes. Except for applications for grants in accordance with subsection (d) of section 10-266aa, in determining whether an application shall be approved and funds awarded pursuant to this section, the commissioner shall consider, but such consideration shall not be limited to, the following factors: (1) The specific objectives and description of the proposed program; (2) the cost; (3) the number of school districts and students that will benefit, provided on and after July 1, 1998, the commissioner shall not award a grant for a program, other than a lighthouse school, in which more than eighty per cent of the students are from one school district; (4) the relative wealth of the participating school districts; and (5) whether the proposed program is likely to (A) increase student achievement, and (B) reduce racial, ethnic and economic isolation.

(c) The Department of Education may retain (1) up to one per cent of the amount appropriated for interdistrict cooperative grants pursuant to this section for state-wide technical assistance, program monitoring and evaluation, and administration, and (2) up to one per cent of such amount for use by the Technical High School System for interdistrict summer school, weekend and after-school programs.

(P.A. 85-375, S. 1, 2; P.A. 88-360, S. 56, 63; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-7, S. 5, 22; P.A. 93-263, S. 6, 14; P.A. 95-226, S. 18, 30; P.A. 96-244, S. 54, 63; P.A. 97-290, S. 12, 29; P.A. 98-168, S. 20, 26; 98-252, S. 7, 80; P.A. 99-281, S. 5, 6; 99-289, S. 7, 11; P.A. 01-173, S. 10, 67; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-1, S. 30, 54; P.A. 12-116, S. 87; P.A. 17-237, S. 53.)

History: P.A. 88-360 in Subsec. (a) provided that the program be within available appropriations rather than a three-year pilot, substituted “with” for “in addressing the problem of declining pupil enrollments through” and made a technical change, in Subsec. (b) provided that applications be submitted annually and in Subsec. (c) deleted an obsolete provision re a report due January 15, 1988; June Sp. Sess. 91-7 inserted new Subsec. (b) concerning programs implemented pursuant to Sec. 10-266j and relettered the remaining Subsecs. accordingly; P.A. 93-263 amended Subsec. (d) to add “operation” and “facilities” and to include magnet schools and programs not eligible for grants pursuant to Secs. 10-264f to 10-264i, inclusive, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-226 amended Subsec. (a) to add provision requiring payments to be made first pursuant to Secs. 10-264i, 10-264l and 10-266j, added regional educational service centers and excluded interdistrict magnet school programs, deleted former Subsec. (b) re language requiring payments be made first to programs pursuant to Sec. 10-266j and relettered remaining Subsecs. accordingly, amended Subsec. (b), formerly (c), to add Subdivs. (5) and (6) and make technical changes and deleted former Subsec. (d) re criteria for the awarding of grants and repayment provision, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 96-244 added Subsec. (c) re retention by the Department of Education of up to one per cent of the amount appropriated, effective July 1, 1996; P.A. 97-290 amended Subsec. (a) to add programs pursuant to Sec. 10-266bb and lighthouse schools, amended Subsec. (b)(3) to add provision re prohibition against awarding a grant on and after July 1, 1998, for a program in which more than 80% of the students are from one school district and amended (b)(5) to change “enhance student diversity and awareness of diversity” to “reduce racial, ethnic and economic isolation”, and made technical changes, effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 98-168 amended Subsec. (a) to remove provisions for payments pursuant to Secs. 10-264i and 10-264l and added provision for payments pursuant to Sec. 10-266j to be made from the appropriation for this section, effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 98-252 amended Subsec. (b)(5) to substitute “achievement” for performance on the state-wide mastery examination and to deleted obsolete Subsec. (b)(6), effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 99-281 amended Subsec. (c) to designate existing provision as Subdiv. (1) and to add Subdiv. (2) re retaining of funds for use by regional vocational-technical schools, effective July 1, 1999; P.A. 99-289 amended Subsec. (a) to make technical changes and amended Subsec. (b) to add provisions relating to lighthouse schools and to make a technical change, effective July 1, 1999; P.A. 01-173 amended Subsec. (a) to allow nonsectarian nonprofit organizations to be eligible for grants, to remove a prohibition against the use of grants for interdistrict magnet school programs and to allow grant funds to be used for magnet school programs that meet specified conditions and amended Subsec. (b) to add applications submitted by nonsectarian nonprofit organizations, effective July 1, 2001; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-1 amended Subsec. (a) to include payments for purposes of Sec. 10-266aa(d) and amended Subsec. (b) to add exception for applications for grants in accordance with Sec. 10-266aa(d), effective July 1, 2001 (Revisor’s note: The word “section” was added editorially by the Revisors in Subsec. (a) before “10-266aa” for consistency with customary statutory usage); pursuant to P.A. 12-116, “regional vocational-technical schools” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “technical high schools” in Subsec. (c), effective July 1, 2012; P.A. 17-237 amended Subsec. (c) by replacing “technical high schools” with “Technical High School System”, effective July 1, 2017.