Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 51 of chapter 15 of the General Laws, as appearing in section 6 of chapter 188 of the acts of 1985, is hereby amended by striking out the fifth paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

At each school the expenditure of said funds shall be determined exclusively by a council consisting of the school principal who shall serve as chairman; and for the first two thousand five hundred students or part thereof, three teachers, elected annually by the teachers of the building, three parents of children attending said school building chosen in elections held annually by the local parent-teacher organization under the direction of the principal of such school or, if none exists chosen by the school committee; one person appointed by the school committee; and, for school buildings containing any of the grades nine to twelve, inclusive, one male secondary student and one female secondary student attending said school building elected annually by the students of said grades. For schools with more than two thousand five hundred students there shall be one teacher, one parent, and, at school buildings containing any of the grades nine to twelve, one secondary student representative for each additional five hundred students selected in the manner above to serve on the council.

SECTION 2. Chapter 188 of the acts of 1985 is hereby amended by striking out section 21 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 21. Notwithstanding the provisions of section thirty-eight G of chapter seventy-one of the General Laws, the commissioner shall be authorized to designate as apprentice teachers qualified individuals who have been awarded a bachelor's degree from an accredited undergraduate institution but do not meet existing certification requirements. Such qualified individuals shall be authorized to teach in the public schools for a period not exceeding two years. Said service may be credited towards teacher certification.

SECTION 3. Said chapter 188 is hereby further amended by striking out section 27 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 27. There is hereby established a special commission, to consist of four members of the senate, one of whom shall be the chairman of the joint committee on education, five members of the house of representatives, one of whom shall be the chairman of the joint committee on education, and six persons to be appointed by the governor, for the purpose of making an investigation and study relative to the conditions of teaching in the commonwealth. Said commission shall include, but not be limited to, an analysis of teacher salaries incentives and levels of responsibility, class size, teacher education, teacher certification, length of school year, length of school day, the relationship between student performance and professional advancement for teachers and any other aspects of teaching which the commission deems appropriate. Said commission shall report to the house of representatives the results of its investigation and study, and its recommendations, if any, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry its recommendations into effect, by filing the same with the clerk of the house of representatives on or before the fourth Wednesday of April, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven.