As we head into the 2023-24 school year we will be supplementing our annual School Law legislative update with our take on some of the most important pieces of education-related legislation from this year’s session of the General Assembly. 

One particular area of focus in this session was multilingual education.  Public Act 23-150 includes a number of provisions that expand upon existing state and federal law protections that must be provided to the parents of multilingual students.  The Act formally adopts the phrase “multilingual learner” in place of “English language learner,” and, as explained in more detail below, requires the Connecticut State Board of Education (“CSBE”) to draft a written bill of rights for the parents or guardians of multilingual learners and explicitly requires board of education to provide certain translation services on behalf of multilingual learner students and their parents. 

Multilingual Learner Bill of Rights

The new multilingual learner bill of rights is largely a collection and restatement of legal protections that already exist under federal and state law.  Under federal law for instance, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Education Opportunities Act of 1974 require that public schools take affirmative steps to ensure that English learner students can meaningfully participate in educational programs.  At the state level, existing law requires boards of education to ascertain the language needs of non-English speaking students and offer a program of bilingual education if twenty or more such students speak the same dominant non-English language and attend the same school.

Public Act 23-150 effectively restates and expands upon existing multilingual education requirements by mandating that the new, to-be developed bill of rights specifically include at least the following declarations regarding the legal rights of multilingual students and their parents:

• The right to attend public school regardless of immigration status;
• The right of a parent or guardian to enroll their child in public school without being required to submit immigration documentation;
• The right of a multilingual learner to certain translation services (explained below);
• The right of a multilingual learner to participate in a program of bilingual education as currently provided for under state law;
• The right of a parent or guardian to receive written notice, in both English and the dominant language of such parent or guardian, that such student is eligible to participate in a program of bilingual education or English as a new language program;
• The right of a multilingual learner and the parent or guardian of such student to receive a high-quality orientation session, in the dominant language of such student and parent or guardian, that provides information relating to state standards, tests and expectations at the school for multilingual learner students, as well as the goals and requirements for programs of bilingual education and English as a new language;
• The right of a parent or guardian to receive information about the progress of their child’s English language development and acquisition;
• The right of a multilingual learner and the parent or guardian of such student to meet with school personnel to discuss such student's English language development and acquisition;
• The right of a multilingual learner to be placed in a program of bilingual education or English as a new language, if offered by the board of education;
• The right of a multilingual learner to have equal access to all grade-level school programming;
• The right of a multilingual learner to have equal access to all core grade-level subject matter;
• The right of a multilingual learner to receive annual language proficiency testing;
• The right of a multilingual learner to receive support services aligned with any intervention plan that the school or school district provides to all students;
• The right of a multilingual learner to be continuously and annually enrolled in a program of bilingual education or English as a new language while such student remains an eligible student, and;
• The right of a parent or guardian of a multilingual learner to contact the Connecticut State Department of Education (“SDE”) with any questions or concerns regarding such student's right to receive services or accommodations, including information regarding any recourse for failure of the board of education to provide or ensure such services or accommodations.

Starting in 2024-25, Public Act 23-150 requires boards of education who are either providing a program of bilingual instruction or a program of English as a new language instruction to provide hard-copies of the new to-be-developed multilingual learner bill of rights to the parents of eligible students in their dominant language.  The new law does not specify exactly when the bill of rights must be distributed, but it must be distributed on an annual basis and presumably should be given to the parents of newly-enrolled students prior to the start of any program of bilingual or English instruction.

The law also requires that the bill of rights be posted on the websites of boards that are providing a program of bilingual instruction or a program of English as a new language.  Again, the law does not specify this point, but presumably a single English version of the new bill of rights is sufficient for website posting.

Translation Services

As noted above, the multilingual learner bill of rights also requires a declaration of the right of multilingual students to translation services.  Under the new law, such students are specifically entitled to translation services during “critical interactions” with teachers and administrators which the act includes to define “parent-teacher conferences, meetings with administrators of the school in which such student is attending, and at properly noticed regular or special meetings of the board of education or scheduled meetings with a member or members of the board of education . . .”. 

While technically this is a new requirement under state law, the language of the Act closely tracks 2015 federal Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) Dear Colleague letter guidance that stated that school districts have an obligation under Title VI to provide language assistance through interpreters and translators to ensure meaningful communication with English Learner students and their parents.

Under the new law, translation services must be provided by an interpreter who is present in person, available by phone or through an online technology platform, or through a website or other translation application approved by the CSBE.  For board of education meetings or direct meetings with board members, the request for translation services must be made at least one day in advance of the meeting.  The board of education translation services requirements became effective July 1, 2023.

Public Act 23-150 leaves some practical issues unaddressed.  For instance, the law does not address to whom translation service requests must be made to specifically, and also does not address the logistics of how translation services would be provided during a board of education meeting.  With respect to parent and student requests for translation services, it is probably safe to assume that any request made to an administrator or board member is enough to trigger the obligation to arrange translation services.  For board meetings, it is hard to imagine how a meeting could be effectively conducted if each single comment is followed by a foreign language translation, so it probably makes the most sense for districts to provide non-English proficient parents with access to individual translation services (including through on-line services or “apps”) that allow parents to follow the conduct of a meeting in their native language.

Of course, before any translation service requests are made, it is a good idea for schools to think through how they will comply with the new law.  Existing policies and administrative regulations addressing ELL and bilingual education should be reviewed and updated as necessary and it makes sense for schools to line-up translation resources now so that requests can be properly complied with.

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