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. To provide for supplementing certain items in the general appropriation act and for certain other activities and projects, the sums set forth in section two are hereby appropriated from the General Fund unless specifically designated otherwise in the items, for the several purposes and subject to the conditions specified therein, subject to the provisions of law regulating the disbursement of public funds and the conditions pertaining to appropriations in chapter one hundred and thirty-eight of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-one for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and ninety-two or for such period as may be specified, the sums so appropriated to be in addition, unless otherwise specified, to any amounts available for the purpose.

SECTION 2. `tm;keep=no `tcol=6,B4;c1=1,9,tu,T;c2=1,78,tuc;c3=1,78,tuc;c4=12,53,tfh1;c5=16,49,tu;c6=66,13,tur `t+1 `tch `tc1 `ts Item `t+1 `tch;end `tc3 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE `tc2 Miscellaneous `tc1 1599-0000 `tc4 For Emergency Educational Assistance to cities, towns, regional school districts, and county agricultural schools, to be distributed in accordance with section four of this act `tc6 $30,000,000 `tc3 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL AFFAIRS `tc2 Office of the Secretary `tc1 7066-1010 `tc4 For fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-two reimbursements to certain cities and towns or regional school districts for losses incurred under the provisions of the school choice law financing provision, section three hundred and four of chapter one hundred and thirty-eight of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-one; provided, however, that the amount of such reimbursement for any city or town or regional school district shall be limited to fifty percent of the loss of so-called chapter 70 funds due to the provisions of said section three hundred and four except in the case of any such city, town or regional school district which incurs a loss equal to or greater than two percent of its total school budget in which case said limit shall be seventy-five percent; provided, further, that to qualify for such reimbursement a community or regional school district shall submit an application for such reimbursement to the secretary of education on or before January twenty-third, nineteen hundred and ninety-two together with an educational corrective action plan containing information, recommendations and suggestions relative to (1) areas needing improvement within the school system of the applicant, (2) methods of improvement to be employed, (3) goals and objectives of said improvement, (4) evaluation and control methods to be used, (5) personnel to be engaged in such improvement, (6) results intended to be accomplished within one year from the date of application, and (7) methods of increasing parental involvement to be employed; provided, further, that approval of said plan by said secretary shall act as a condition precedent to the distribution of funds from this item to the applicant community or regional school district; provided, further, that after all of the above obligations have been met any remaining balance in this account may be transferred to item 0610-1500 of section two of chapter one hundred and thirty-eight of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-one for the purpose of reimbursing said item for payments made on behalf of students residing within a city, town or regional school district which does not receive any so-called chapter 70 funds during fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-two `tc6 $2,700,000 `tcol;end

SECTION 3. Chapter 222 of the acts of 1991 is hereby amended by striking out section 5A and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 5A. Section 2 of chapter 138 of the acts of 1991 is hereby amended by inserting after item 9749-0100 the following item:- `tm;keep=no `tcol=6,B4;c1=1,9,tu,T;c2=1,78,tuc;c3=1,78,tuc;c4=12,53,tfh1;c5=16,49,tu;c6=66,13,tur

`tc1 9749-0200 `tc4 For the expenses of the study authorized by section forty-three of chapter one hundred and forty-two of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-one; provided, however, that the expenditure of funds appropriated herein shall be contingent on the prior receipt of private donations equal to or greater than said expenditure; provided, further, that said donations shall be deposited into the General Fund `tc6 $100,000 `tcol;end

SECTION 4. The division of local services within the department of revenue shall develop and promulgate regulations in consultation with the department of education pursuant to the provisions of chapter thirty A of the General Laws to provide for the disbursement of emergency educational assistance funds, as provided for in section two of this act, no later than January thirteenth, nineteen hundred and ninety-two; provided, however, that no city, town, regional school district or county agricultural school shall apply for said assistance until such regulations are promulgated. The regulations shall require that the receiving city, town, regional school district or county agricultural school be required to repay to the commonwealth, in each of five successive fiscal years beginning with fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-three, an amount equal to ten percent of the amount of emergency aid received pursuant to this section for fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-two; provided, however, that the foregoing repayment obligation shall be forgiven in any year when the amount of chapter seventy school aid does not increase, over the amount of such chapter seventy aid received for the preceding year, by an amount equal to at least ten percent of the amount of the emergency aid actually received pursuant to this section in fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-two; provided, further, that such regulations shall determine repayment procedures for regional school districts. Such regulations shall further require that the department of education certify, after study and analysis, that a serious educational emergency exists in an applicant city, town, regional school district, or county agricultural school, in order for such applicant to qualify for such assistance. Such regulations shall further state criteria for qualification for such emergency assistance, and the purposes for which such money may be expended, which shall include remediation of the condition or conditions outlined in clauses (a) to (c), inclusive, of this section and shall be limited to reasonable expenditures approved by the division of local services and the department of education as necessary and feasible to alleviate the educational emergency during the current fiscal year. Said criteria for qualification for emergency assistance shall include, but not be limited to, at least one of the following: (a) a decline in per-pupil spending from the preceding school year; (b) regular education classrooms with thirty-five or more students; or (c) shortages of textbooks and other instructional materials. At least eighty percent of the funds appropriated for emergency educational assistance shall be made available to cities, towns, regional school districts, and county agricultural schools currently receiving equal education opportunity grants. Such regulations shall further provide the following: that no portion of aid received shall supplant funds previously approved by cities, towns, or the members of said regional school districts, or the appropriating body of such county agricultural school for the use of the public schools in the current school year; that no portion of such aid shall be expended for the purpose of paying for educational administrative costs in any city, town, regional school district or county agricultural school, except in unusual and compelling circumstances approved by the division of local services and the department of education; that the finance or fiscal control board shall approve expenditures of amounts received pursuant to this section; and that the local appropriating authority, as defined in section twenty-one C of chapter fifty-nine of the General Laws, shall submit applications for aid pursuant to this section; provided, however, that the application of a regional school district shall require the approval of a two-thirds vote of the local appropriating authorities of the member municipalities. Such regulations shall also include a requirement for the filing of a report with said departments by any city, town, regional school district or county agricultural school which receives said emergency assistance funds, with said report to include a detailed list of emergency assistance expenditures and the impact of emergency assistance.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage.