HARTFORD, CT – A bill to address the growing problem of disconnected or at-risk youth was referred to the Connecticut General Assembly’s Transportation Committee this week where lawmakers have five days to discuss the bill, which includes free public bus fares to help students get to and from school.
The bus fare language comes with a $2 million fiscal note.
House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, said in an interview Wednesday that since there is a component regarding transportation, the bill – HB 5213 – would have to be referred to the Transportation Committee for review.
Among other things, the bill also would authorize local education districts to share data with youth development organizations and other agencies in order to provide better services and referrals for young people who are at-risk. The effort comes on the heels of the 2023 release of a report commissioned by the Dalio Education foundation that identified a bubble of 119,000 young people who are at risk of becoming disconnected from education and gainful employment.
The public transportation part of the legislation is the most costly.
Reached Wednesday, Rojas said the bill is still alive despite being referred to the Transportation Committee, which has no more meetings scheduled for the current session. He said the committee had five days to act on it, and if it approves the language as-is, the bill will go back to the House floor. Amendments, he said, will delay the bill, which is problematic in the short session that ends May 8.
Rojas said he understands the realities of the public transportation sector in terms of costs. But he said there are other benefits that come from providing free bus fare.
“It’s called public transportation for a reason but it’s not necessarily needed to make money. It’s a sort of public good,” Rojas said. “You do have to pay for things, and any fares that we can collect do help offset that cost. But we already know they operate at a loss because they’re not intended to, you know, make a profit or even break even.”
Advocates have supported the bill at news conferences and public hearings over the course of this year’s session. Students from the University High School of Science and Engineering in Hartford testified at a Feb. 28 public hearing in support of the bill.
They shared personal stories of how they struggle to engage in after-school activities and being on time, something that free public transportation could help them accomplish.
Many of the students said they are faced with having to choose between getting a ride home or going to an extracurricular activity.
Brain O’Connor, Connecticut Conference of Municipalities public policy and advocacy director, shared similar remarks and emphasized the impact it could have for students, in an interview on Wednesday.
“We think it was actually a small price to pay [$2 million fiscal note on public transportation] in order to get these students to school,” O’Connor said. “I think that’s one of the key concerns of disconnected youth is getting them into the school and not being truant or having to miss a bus.”
Dalio Education provided a $700,000 grant to CCM to continue working toward solutions for disconnected youth earlier this session. A new commission – www.119kcommission.org – was convened, including 15 members, 12 of them being municipal leaders from the smallest to largest towns in the state. They have planned a series of public forums, the first of which was on March 26.
Both Rojas and O’Connor said they think the most important part of HB 5213 is the data sharing component, authorizing data sharing between school boards and various youth development and service organizations.
By sharing data across different platforms, they will be able to identify the at-risk students and better serve young people, Rojas said.
