(a) As used in this section:

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(1) “Receiving district” means any school district that accepts students under the program established pursuant to this section;

(2) “Sending district” means any school district that sends students it would otherwise be legally responsible for educating to another school district under the program; and

(3) “Minority students” means students who are “pupils of racial minorities”, as defined in section 10-226a.

(b) There is established, within available appropriations, an interdistrict public school attendance program. The purpose of the program shall be to: (1) Improve academic achievement; (2) reduce racial, ethnic and economic isolation or preserve racial and ethnic balance; and (3) provide a choice of educational programs. The Department of Education shall provide oversight for the program, including the setting of reasonable limits for the transportation of students participating in the program, and may provide for the incremental expansion of the program for the school year commencing in 2000 for each town required to participate in the program pursuant to subsection (c) of this section.

(c) The program shall be phased in as provided in this subsection. (1) For the school year commencing in 1998, and for each school year thereafter, the program shall be in operation in the Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport regions. The Hartford program shall operate as a continuation of the program described in section 10-266j. Students who reside in Hartford, New Haven or Bridgeport may attend school in another school district in the region and students who reside in such other school districts may attend school in Hartford, New Haven or Bridgeport, provided, beginning with the 2001-2002 school year, the proportion of students who are not minority students to the total number of students leaving Hartford, Bridgeport or New Haven to participate in the program shall not be greater than the proportion of students who were not minority students in the prior school year to the total number of students enrolled in Hartford, Bridgeport or New Haven in the prior school year. The regional educational service center operating the program shall make program participation decisions in accordance with the requirements of this subdivision. (2) For the school year commencing in 2000, and for each school year thereafter, the program shall be in operation in New London, provided beginning with the 2001-2002 school year, the proportion of students who are not minority students to the total number of students leaving New London to participate in the program shall not be greater than the proportion of students who were not minority students in the prior year to the total number of students enrolled in New London in the prior school year. The regional educational service center operating the program shall make program participation decisions in accordance with this subdivision. (3) The Department of Education may provide, within available appropriations, grants for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, to the remaining regional educational service centers to assist school districts in planning for a voluntary program of student enrollment in every priority school district, pursuant to section 10-266p, which is interested in participating in accordance with this subdivision. For the school year commencing in 2003, and for each school year thereafter, the voluntary enrollment program may be in operation in every priority school district in the state. Students from other school districts in the area of a priority school district, as determined by the regional educational service center pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, may attend school in the priority school district, provided such students bring racial, ethnic and economic diversity to the priority school district and do not increase the racial, ethnic and economic isolation in the priority school district. (4) For the school year commencing July 1, 2022, there shall be a pilot program in operation in Danbury and Norwalk. The pilot program shall serve (A) up to fifty students who reside in Danbury, and such students may attend school in the school districts for the towns of New Fairfield, Brookfield, Bethel, Ridgefield and Redding, and (B) up to fifty students who reside in Norwalk, and such students may attend school in the school districts for the towns of Darien, New Canaan, Wilton, Weston and Westport. School districts which receive students from Danbury and Norwalk under the pilot program during the school year commencing July 1, 2022, shall allow such students to attend school in the district until they graduate from high school. (5) For the school year commencing July 1, 2022, and each school year thereafter, the town of Guilford shall be eligible to participate in the program as a receiving district and a sending district with New Haven.

(d) School districts which received students from New London under the program during the school year commencing July 1, 2000, shall allow such students to attend school in the district until they graduate from high school. The attendance of such students in such program shall not be supported by grants pursuant to subsections (f) and (g) of this section but shall be supported, in the same amounts as provided for in said subsections, by interdistrict cooperative grants pursuant to section 10-74d to the regional educational service centers operating such programs.

(e) Once the program is in operation in the region served by a regional educational service center pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, the Department of Education shall provide an annual grant to such regional educational service center to assist school districts in its area in administering the program and to provide staff to assist students participating in the program to make the transition to a new school and to act as a liaison between the parents of such students and the new school district. Each regional educational service center shall determine which school districts in its area are located close enough to a priority school district to make participation in the program feasible in terms of student transportation pursuant to subsection (f) of this section, provided any student participating in the program prior to July 1, 1999, shall be allowed to continue to attend the same school such student attended prior to said date in the receiving district until the student completes the highest grade in such school. If there are more students who seek to attend school in a receiving district than there are spaces available, the regional educational service center shall assist the school district in determining attendance by the use of a lottery or lotteries designed to preserve or increase racial, ethnic and economic diversity, except that the regional educational service center shall give preference to siblings and to students who would otherwise attend a school that has lost its accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges or has been identified as in need of improvement pursuant to the No Child Left Behind Act, P.L. 107-110. The admission policies shall be consistent with section 10-15c and this section. No receiving district shall recruit students under the program for athletic or extracurricular purposes. Each receiving district shall allow out-of-district students it accepts to attend school in the district until they graduate from high school.

(f) The Department of Education shall provide grants to regional educational service centers or local or regional boards of education for the reasonable cost of transportation for students participating in the program. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and each fiscal year thereafter, the department shall provide such grants within available appropriations, provided the state-wide average of such grants does not exceed an amount equal to three thousand two hundred fifty dollars for each student transported, except that the Commissioner of Education may grant to regional educational service centers or local or regional boards of education additional sums from funds remaining in the appropriation for such transportation services if needed to offset transportation costs that exceed such maximum amount. The regional educational service centers shall provide reasonable transportation services to high school students who wish to participate in supervised extracurricular activities. For purposes of this section, the number of students transported shall be determined on October first of each fiscal year.

(g) (1) Except as provided in subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection, the Department of Education shall provide, within available appropriations, an annual grant to the local or regional board of education for each receiving district (A) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, in an amount not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program, and (B) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and each fiscal year thereafter, in an amount at least two thousand five hundred dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program.

(2) (A) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, and each fiscal year thereafter, the department shall provide, within available appropriations, an annual grant to the local or regional board of education for each receiving district if one of the following conditions are met as follows: (i) (I) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, three thousand dollars, and (II) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and each fiscal year thereafter, at least three thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program if the number of such out-of-district students is less than two per cent of the total student population of such receiving district plus any amount available pursuant to subparagraph (B) of this subdivision, (ii) (I) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, four thousand dollars, and (II) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and each fiscal year thereafter, at least four thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program if the number of such out-of-district students is greater than or equal to two per cent but less than three per cent of the total student population of such receiving district plus any amount available pursuant to subparagraph (B) of this subdivision, (iii) (I) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, six thousand dollars, and (II) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and each fiscal year thereafter, at least six thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program if the number of such out-of-district students is greater than or equal to three per cent but less than four per cent of the total student population of such receiving district plus any amount available pursuant to subparagraph (B) of this subdivision, (iv) (I) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, six thousand dollars, and (II) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and each fiscal year thereafter, at least six thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program if the Commissioner of Education determines that the receiving district has an enrollment of greater than four thousand students and has increased the number of students in the program by at least fifty per cent from the previous fiscal year plus any amount available pursuant to subparagraph (B) of this subdivision, or (v) (I) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, eight thousand dollars, and (II) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and each fiscal year thereafter, at least eight thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who attends school in the receiving district under the program if the number of such out-of-district students is greater than or equal to four per cent of the total student population of such receiving district plus any amount available pursuant to subparagraph (B) of this subdivision.

(B) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, and each fiscal year thereafter, the department shall, in order to assist the state in meeting its obligations under commitment 9B of the Comprehensive School Choice Plan pursuant to the settlement in Sheff v. O’Neill, HHD-X07-CV89-4026240-S, provide, within available appropriations, an additional grant to the local or regional board of education for each receiving district in the amount of two thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who resides in the Hartford region and attends school in the receiving district under the program.

(3) (A) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, the department shall provide a grant to the local or regional board of education for each receiving district described in subdivision (4) of subsection (c) of this section in an amount of four thousand dollars for each out-of-district student who resides in Danbury or Norwalk and attends school in the receiving district under the pilot program.

(B) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, and each fiscal year thereafter, the department shall provide an annual grant to the local or regional board of education for each receiving district described in subdivision (4) of subsection (c) of this section for each out-of-district student who resides in Danbury or Norwalk and attends school in the receiving district under the pilot program in accordance with the provisions of subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection.

(C) Not later than January 1, 2025, the department shall submit a report on the pilot program in operation in Danbury and Norwalk, pursuant to subdivision (4) of subsection (c) of this section, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to education and appropriations, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a. Such report shall include, but need not be limited to, the total number of students participating in the pilot program, the number of students from each town participating in the pilot program, the total amount of the grant paid under the pilot program and the amount of the grant paid to each town participating in the pilot program.

(4) Each town which receives funds pursuant to this subsection shall make such funds available to its local or regional board of education in supplement to any other local appropriation, other state or federal grant or other revenue to which the local or regional board of education is entitled.

(h) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter, each sending district and each receiving district shall divide the number of children participating in the program who reside in such district or attend school in such district by two for purposes of the counts for subdivision (22) of section 10-262f and subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of section 10-261.

(i) In the case of an out-of-district student who requires special education and related services, the sending district shall pay the receiving district an amount equal to the difference between the reasonable cost of providing such special education and related services to such student and the amount received by the receiving district pursuant to subsection (g) of this section and in the case of students participating pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, the per pupil amount received pursuant to section 10-74d. The sending district shall be eligible for reimbursement pursuant to section 10-76g.

(j) Nothing in this section shall prohibit school districts from charging tuition to other school districts that do not have a high school pursuant to section 10-33.

(k) On or before March first of each year, the Commissioner of Education shall determine if the enrollment in the program pursuant to subsection (c) of this section for the fiscal year is below the number of students for which funds were appropriated. If the commissioner determines that the enrollment is below such number, the additional funds shall be used by the commissioner in accordance with this subsection.

(1) Any amount up to five hundred thousand dollars of such additional funds shall be used for supplemental grants to receiving districts on a pro rata basis for each out-of-district student in the program pursuant to subsection (c) of this section who attends the same school in the receiving district as at least nine other such out-of-district students, not to exceed one thousand dollars per student.

(2) Any amount up to and including five hundred thousand dollars of such additional funds available after payment is made pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection shall be paid to the State Education Resource Center, established pursuant to section 10-357a, to provide professional development to certified employees, in accordance with the provisions of section 10-148a, and training for other school personnel in receiving districts.

(3) Any amount up to and including two million dollars of such additional funds remaining after payment is made pursuant to subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection shall be used for the provision of wrap-around services to students participating in the program, including, but not limited to, academic tutoring, family support and experiential learning opportunities.

(l) For purposes of the state-wide mastery examinations under section 10-14n, students participating in the program established pursuant to this section shall be considered residents of the school district in which they attend school.

(m) Within available appropriations, the commissioner may make grants to regional education service centers which provide summer school educational programs approved by the commissioner to students participating in the program.

(n) The Commissioner of Education may provide grants for children in the Hartford program described in this section to participate in preschool and all day kindergarten programs. In addition to the subsidy provided to the receiving district for educational services, such grants may be used for the provision of before and after-school care and remedial services for the preschool and kindergarten students participating in the program.

(o) Within available appropriations, the commissioner may make grants for academic student support for programs pursuant to this section that assist the state in meeting its obligations pursuant to the decision in Sheff v. O’Neill, 238 Conn. 1 (1996), or any related stipulation or order in effect, as determined by the Commissioner of Education.