HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1547        FILED ON: 1/15/2015

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 396

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Patricia A. Haddad

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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 to accelerate student success through expanded learning time.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1547        FILED ON: 1/15/2015

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 396

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth General Court
(2015-2016)

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An Act to accelerate student success through expanded learning time.

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: Chapter 70 section 2 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the definition of “expanded program allotment” the following --

“Expanded learning time program allotment”,  the amount allotted within a district’s foundation budget for providing approved expanded learning time to students; provided that,  the expanded learning time program allotment shall be added to a district’s foundation budget if (i) a school or schools in the district serves students in the elementary and/or middle grades; (ii) has enrollment of greater than seventy per cent of low-income students;  (iii)(a) the elementary or middle school or schools have a minimum of 1,200 annual instructional hours and 1,290 annual instructional hours respectively on a mandatory basis for all enrolled students or (b) a school provides a minimum of 1,200 instructional hours for all enrolled students in the elementary grades and/or a minimum of 1,290 of instructional hours for all enrolled students in the middle grades within a K-8 school; (iv) the additional time is spent on an appropriate mix of (a) core academics; (b) programming that broadens students’ skills and educational opportunities, such as, music, art, sports, health and wellness programs, project-based experiential learning, apprenticeships ; and (c) additional time for teacher collaboration and professional development; (v) the school or schools have a performance agreement in good standing with the department of elementary and secondary education; and (vi) the school or schools has received initial funding through line-item 7061-9412 in the state’s annual appropriations act; provided further, the department may put a priority on funding schools with middle grades, as appropriations necessitate; provided further,  the expanded learning time program allotment shall be determined by multiplying the number of pupils enrolled in district schools providing at least 1,200 annual instructional hours at the elementary level and 1,290 annual instructional hours  by the wage adjustment factor by thirteen hundred dollars; provided further, districts with schools with performance agreements in good standing with the department of elementary and secondary education funded  through line-item 7061-9412 in Section 2 of Chapter 165 of the Acts of 2014 shall be funded for the expanded learning time program allotment;

SECTION 2. Chapter 70 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting in section 3 paragraph 3, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, after the words "expanded program allotment" the following --

, expanded learning time program allotment,

SECTION 3. Chapter 71 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting in section 89, subsection (ff), paragraph two, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, after the words "nor any amount generated by said assumed enrollment," the following --

and the expanded learning time program allotment, nor any amount amounts generated by said expanded learning time program allotment.

SECTION 4. Chapter 71 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting in section 89, subsection (ff) the following new paragraph --

The department shall, subject to appropriation, provide per pupil expanded learning time program funding as part of the charter tuition amount; provided that the expanded learning time program allotment shall only be added to the charter tuition amount for charter schools if (i) greater than 70 per cent of students enrolled in the charter school are low-income; (ii) the charter school provides at least 1,200 hours of instruction annually at the elementary school level and 1,290 hours of instruction annually at the middle school level to all enrolled students; and (iii) the charter school has an approved expanded learning time performance agreement in good standing with the department; provided further, the expanded learning time program allotment shall be determined by multiplying the number of pupils enrolled in the charter school by the wage adjustment factor by thirteen hundred dollars.