SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1524        FILED ON: 1/20/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 284

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Jason M. Lewis

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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 implement the recommendations of the Chapter 70 foundation budget review commission.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1524        FILED ON: 1/20/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 284

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

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An Act to implement the recommendations of the Chapter 70 foundation budget review commission.

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 29 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 5B the following section:-

Section 5B½. (a) On or before January 15 the secretary of administration and finance shall meet with the house and senate committees on ways and means and shall jointly determine an implementation schedule to fulfill the recommendations filed on November 2, 2015 by the foundation budget review commission established under section 4 of chapter 70. The implementation schedule shall establish a foundation budget as defined in section 2 of said chapter 70 incorporating the categories of tuitioned-out special education rate, assumed in-school special education enrollment, low-income increment, low-income enrollment, foundation benefits, retired employee health insurance and English language learner increment as defined in section 2 of chapter 70 over a period of 7 fiscal years; provided, however, that in the first year of the term of office of a governor who has not served in the preceding year the parties shall determine an implementation schedule not later than January 31 of that year. Said schedule of implementation shall not exceed 7 fiscal years and shall in each fiscal year set the appropriation required to fully fund the foundation budget incorporating the aforementioned categories by fiscal year 2025 in equal increments for each fiscal year. In determining the schedule of implementation, the secretary of administration and finance and house and senate committees on ways and means shall hold a public hearing and receive testimony from the commissioner of elementary and secondary education and other interested parties.  The schedule may be amended by agreement of the senate and house ways and means committees in any of the 7 fiscal years to reflect changes in enrollment, inflation, student populations, or other factors that would affect the remaining costs in the schedule; provided, however, that the final year of the schedule shall not surpass fiscal year 2025, but the schedule may be fully implemented prior to fiscal year 2025. The implementation schedule shall be included in a joint resolution and placed before the members of the general court for their consideration.  The implementation schedule shall be subject to appropriation.

SECTION 2. Section 2 of chapter 70 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the definition of “Assumed in-school special education enrollment” and inserting in place thereof the following definition:-

“Assumed in-school special education enrollment”, 4 per cent of total foundation enrollment in a district not counting vocational or preschool enrollment, plus 5 per cent of vocational enrollment.

SECTION 3. Said section 2 of said chapter 70, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out the definition of “Foundation benefits” and inserting in place thereof the following definition:-

“Foundation benefits”, the amount allotted within a district’s foundation budget for the purchase of retired employee health insurance, employee benefits and other insurance in any fiscal year; provided, however, that the foundation benefits shall be the sum of the following:

(i) $4,320 multiplied by the wage adjustment factor or the employee health insurance rate, whichever is less, multiplied by the sum of the foundation teaching staff, the foundation support staff, the foundation assistants, the foundation principals, the foundation clerical staff, the foundation health care staff, the foundation central office professional staff and the foundation custodial staff; plus

(ii) $460 multiplied by the sum of the foundation teaching staff, the foundation support staff, the foundation assistants, the foundation principals, the foundation clerical staff, the foundation health care staff, the foundation central office professional staff and the foundation custodial staff; plus

(iii) $230 multiplied by the foundation vocational staff; plus

(iv) the retired employee health insurance rate multiplied by the number of retired employees.

SECTION 4. Said section 2 of said chapter 70, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the word “allotment,”,  in line 188, the second time it appears, the following words:-  English language learner increment, low-income increment.

SECTION 5. Said section 2 of said chapter 70, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the definition of “District” the following 2 definitions:-

“Employee health insurance rate”, the average group insurance commission premium for all plans for the 3 previous fiscal years; provided, however, that the group insurance commission shall annually, on or before June 30, provide the department with data necessary for the determination of such rate or any increase thereof.

“English language learner increment”, the amount allotted within a district for English language learners, as defined in section 3 of chapter 71A, including students enrolled in vocational-technical schools. The English language learner increment shall be determined by multiplying the number of English language learners within in a district by $2,361 in fiscal year 2019, adjusted annually thereafter according to the foundation inflation index.

SECTION 6. Said section 2 of said chapter 70, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the definition of “Low-income enrollment” the following definition:-

“Low-income increment”, the amount allotted within a district for each student with a family income at or below 185 per cent of the federal poverty level. The department shall rank each district and divide the districts into septiles; provided, however, that each district shall be assigned a low-income septile based on its low income percentage which shall be calculated as its number of low-income students divided by the total foundation enrollment; provided further, that each septile shall be assigned a low-income rate where the rate for the lowest percentage septile shall be $3,474 and each subsequent septile shall increase by equal amounts up to the highest percentage septile rate of $8,179; and provided further, that beginning in fiscal year 2019, the rates for each septile shall be annually adjusted according to the foundation inflation index.

SECTION 7. Said section 2 of said chapter 70, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the definition of “Professional development allotment” the following 2 definitions:-

“Retired employee”, an employee of a school district who retired while employed by that district and who receives health insurance benefits through that district.

“Retired employee health insurance rate”, the average group insurance commission premium for all retiree plans for the 3 previous fiscal years; provided, however, that the group insurance commission shall annually, on or before June 30, provide the department with data necessary for the determination of such rate or any increase thereof.

SECTION 8. Said section 2 of said chapter 70, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the definition of “Total foundation staff” the following definition:-

“Tuitioned-out special education rate”, 4 times the statewide foundation budget per-pupil amount less the sum of the statewide foundation budget per-pupil amount and out-of-district special education cost rate; provided, however, that the fiscal year 2018 value shall become the base rate and shall be annually adjusted according to the foundation inflation index.