HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2522        FILED ON: 1/17/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 433

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Bradley H. Jones, Jr.

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to holding Chapter 70 funding harmless.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2522        FILED ON: 1/17/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 433

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Thirteen

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An Act relative to holding Chapter 70 funding harmless.

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 2 of chapter 70 of the General Laws, as most recently amened by chapter 194 of the acts of 2011, is hereby amended by inserting, at the end of the definition of "Base aid", the following clause:-

; provided, however, that nothing in the definition of "Base aid" shall be construed to mean that the amount of base aid, in any fiscal year, shall not drop below the amount of base aid  of the previous fiscal year.

SECTION 2. Section 2 of said chapter 70 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out, in the definition of "Minimum Required Local Contribution", the words "; provided, however, that in no case shall said reduction result in a reduction of net school spending to an amount less than the foundation budget amount."

SECTION 3. Section 2 of said chapter 70 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out, in the definition of "Preliminary Local Contribution", the words "; and provided further; that for any municipality in which net school spending is greater than the foundation budget, in no case shall the sum of the preliminary local contribution and the base aid and the minimum aide result in a reduction of net school spending to an amount less than the foundation budget amount."

SECTION 4. Section 3 of said chapter 70, as appearing in the 2010 Offical Edition, is hereby amended by adding, after the second paragraph, the following new sentence:-

No regulation shall be adopted by the board of education that would prohibit a district’s foundation budget funding, in any fiscal year, from dropping below the amount of said district’s foundation budget funding of the previous fiscal year.

SECTION 5. Section 10 of said chapter 70, as appearing in the 2010 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting, in line 5, after the word "chapter", the following clause:-

; provided, however, that the amount of aid paid to each district shall accurately reflect the foundation enrollment of the district in any fiscal year, and not be subject to a minimum funding amount reflective of the previous fiscal year.