SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1067        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 275

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act relative to increasing the benefit to cities and towns from the special education circuit breaker and including regional transportation network costs..

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 3 of Chapter 70, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby adding at the end thereof the following words:-  “Additionally, cities, towns and districts of the Commonwealth will receive extraordinary special education aid according to the following formula:  In fiscal year 2011 school districts will receive eighty percent of all special education costs, including transportation costs if the city, town, or district utilizes a regional transportation network to reduce transportation costs or other collaborative and demonstrated efforts to reduce such costs, above 3.75 times the per pupil foundation budget; eighty percent of all such costs above 3.5 times the per pupil foundation budget for fiscal year 2012; eighty percent of all such costs above 3.25 per pupil foundation budget for fiscal year 2013 and eighty percent of all such costs above 3.0 times the per pupil foundation budget for fiscal year 2014.  Cities, towns and school districts will be eligible for extraordinary special education funding from the Commonwealth which will be distributed to cities, towns and districts in the budget year that the tuition are payable.”