SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2087        FILED ON: 2/19/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 308

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

John J. Cronin

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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 for  equitable workforce development  .

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2087        FILED ON: 2/19/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 308

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act for  equitable workforce development  .

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

Section 5C. (a) If there are more spaces available than eligible applicants from the city or town in which the  vocational-technical education  is located, the school  shall hold a lottery to determine which of the applicants shall be admitted. The school shall place the students who entered the lottery but were not admitted on a waitlist, the order of which shall be determined by the lottery. The waitlist shall include the names, home address, telephone number and grade level of such students and any other information the department deems necessary. The school shall forward the waitlist to the department of education not later than June 1 in the year in which the lottery is held. The department shall maintain a consolidated waitlist for each municipality in order to determine the number of individual students in each city or town seeking admission to approved vocational-technical education schools.   

(b) If a student stops attending vocational-technical education for any reason, the school providing said vocational-technical education shall fill the vacancy with the next available student on the waitlist for the grade in which the vacancy occurs and shall continue through the waitlist until a student fills the vacant seat. If there is no waitlist or if there is no available student on the waitlist for the grade in which the vacancy occurred, the approved vocational technical education shall publicize an open seat and make attempts to fill said vacant seat.  

(c) The commissioner shall collect data on the racial, ethnic and socio-economic make-up of the student enrollment of each charter school in the commonwealth. The commissioner shall also collect data on the number of students enrolled in each vocational technical education program who have individual education plans pursuant to chapter 71B and those requiring English learner programs under chapter 71A. The commissioner shall file said data annually with the clerks of the house and senate and the joint committee on education not later than December 1.

(d) The board shall promulgate regulations for implementation and enforcement of this section.