HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 94634        FILED ON: 4/27/2010

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4634

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Ten

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An Act relative to mobile student populations..

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 1I of chapter 69 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding after the word “district”, in line 163, the following clause:-

(j) the number of mobile students, defined as any student who enrolled in the district for less than one academic year, and also, when attainable, the reason for student transfer in to the district.

SECTION 2. Subject to appropriation, the department of elementary and secondary education shall develop a pilot grant program for school districts with schools with high mobile student enrollment for the purpose of developing and implementing programs to ensure the successful transition and academic success of mobile students. For the purpose of this section, mobile student shall be defined as any student who has been enrolled in a public school district for less than one academic year and mobile student enrollment shall be the average of the 3 previous fiscal years of the number of mobile students enrolled.  Grants shall be awarded to school districts for programs designed to (a) provide welcome and transition assistance programs for mobile students; (b) provide tutoring in core content and, as needed, English for Speakers of Other Languages; (c) assess the impact of mobile students on non-mobile student academic success; (d) provide guidance and support services targeted to mobile students; or (e) other programs determined by the department of elementary and secondary education to meet the needs of mobile students and school districts with high mobility populations. The department of elementary and secondary education may promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this section.             

SECTION 3. The department of elementary and secondary education shall issue a report on the impact of the rate of student mobility on growth in student academic achievement for all underperforming schools and chronically underperforming school districts, if any; provided, that student mobility rate shall refer to the percentage of students enrolled in a public school district for less than one academic year; and provided, further, that said report shall be provided to the clerks of the senate and house of representatives who shall forward the same to the chair of the senate ways and means committee, the chair of the house ways and means committee, and  the house and senate chairs of the joint committee on education on or before December 1, 2011.