HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 94675        FILED ON: 5/13/2010

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4675

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Ten

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An Act relative to pricing for chapter 71B approved private school programs..

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

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the division of purchased services of the department of procurement shall promulgate rules and regulations relative to the pricing of programs approved under chapter 71B of the General Laws for the purpose of promoting recruitment and retention of all direct care staff and improving instructional resources.

Said rules and regulations shall include the following provisions:-

(a) the division shall establish a pricing mechanism, including eligibility and procedural requirements, that allows approved programs to apply for salary and benefit increases for all direct care staff including, but not limited to, teachers, related service staff, health care staff and clinical staff to increase the rate of licensure and certification, as may be required by state or federal law, and to decrease the rate of staff attrition and to ensure that benefits and salaries are comparable to  the benefits and salaries of similar employees in public schools or relevant agencies of the commonwealth. Said salaries and benefits shall be prorated for the length of said programs. The pricing mechanism shall also address  department of elementary and secondary education approved instructional resource upgrades;

(b) the  department of elementary and secondary education shall, at the next evaluation of an approved private special education program as required in section 3 of chapter 71B, review the facilities, textbooks, equipment, technology, materials and supplies of the program necessary to instruct students in the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks and recommend to the division pricing adjustments to address needed instructional resource upgrades as determined by the  department; and

(c) the division’s pricing mechanisms shall not be based upon non-commonwealth or prior year’s revenues. No mechanism established by the division shall delay a program price adjustment for more than 90 days. Private special education programs must provide purchasers, the  department of elementary and secondary education and the operational services division with a notice of intent to apply for salary and benefit upgrades by October 1 for the following fiscal year.