We Support 2019 Connecticut General Assembly House Bill 6775

Jul 31, 2019
3 min read

Connecticut MilKids have important actions in the work in Hartford. The Connecticut House is considering action to include a Military Connected Child Identifier as part of (optional) school enrollment forms!

At KOAH, we believe that tracking the academic success of military children is vital to truly understanding how MilKids perform in schools across multiple states and school systems, including DoDEA.

KOAH fully and firmly support Connecticut H.B. No. 6775.

CT MilKids Might Get Student Tracker, Thanks to CT HB 6775

Right now, keeping track of military connected students and connecting them to resources is often difficult. Kids slip through the cracks and miss out on opportunities that might have made a major difference in their lives.

We fully and firmly support Connecticut H.B. No. 6775.

We fully and firmly support Connecticut H.B. No. 6775.

MilKids Need to Be Observed

Military kid issues, especially education, have increasingly been in the news over the last few years. And for good reason!

Many Moves Leads to Missed Info, Gaps

Children of active duty troops move, on average, every 1-3 years. That means new schools, often located in entirely different states. Keeping track of academic success and trouble spots becomes more difficult with each move. The different education laws, various forms and even acronyms for the same programs change from state to state, sometimes district to district.

Kids who are teetering on the edge of needing help or support might be missed, simply because records haven’t caught up with them or are on the “wrong” form.

Adding a Military Child Identifier to the public school enrollment process is important. It will let teachers and administrators know to look deeper into the transferred records for additional info.

Brings Overlooked MilKids Into Loop

There are a lot of services available for kids of active duty troops, but not quite so many supports for the children of veterans, Guard or reserve service members.

CT’s HB 6775 includes both of these populations in the mix!

Military connected children don’t stop needing services when their parent ends active duty. The impact of frequent moves, multiple school districts and even the trickle down of repeated parental deployments is long lasting.

CT is smart to include military-connected children of veterans, Guard and reserve troops. This proposed policy will make it easier for them to understand their rights and benefits, too.

Increased Awareness of MilKid Needs at Public Schools

Unless a public school is located near a military base, the staff and teachers are likely not frequently involved in MilKid issues. But with veterans, Guard and reserve troops living in every community across Connecticut, every school and district should keep these concerns on their radar.

HB 6775 requires schools to be the warehouse of information about support programs for military-connected children of any affiliation. Teachers, administrators and school staff would be required to keep such information on hands and offer to help connect families to services.

This policy decreases the divide between the civilian and military communities simply by raising awareness.

Still Room for Improvements

HB 6775 is a great first step. It allows wide identification of military-connected students enrolled in public schools statewide. These kids will then be connected to appropriate support resources to help them succeed at school.

And that’s a great thing.

But there is still room for improvement:

Training of teacher at districts close to active, reserve and Guard duty stations about MilKid specific issues
School Liaison Officers (SLOs) provided to help bridge the gap between the civilian and military communities, assist with enrollment and transfer
Tracking of student data with the MilKids identifier to monitor long-term progress and success of this highly mobile population

At KOAH, we are committed to highlighting the MilKid struggle - and success! This proposed Bill in Connecticut’s House could be a big win for MilKids in our state.