Amendment #2 to H4730
ELL and Low-Income Students
Representatives Vega of Holyoke, Barber of Somerville, Barrett of North Adams, Cabral of New Bedford, Connolly of Cambridge, Farley-Bouvier of Pittsfield, Goldstein-Rose of Amherst, González of Springfield, Holmes of Boston, Koczera of New Bedford, Lewis of Framingham, Matias of Lawrence, Meschino of Hull, Murray of Milford, Provost of Somerville, Tosado of Springfield and Ultrino of Malden move to amend the bill in Section 2, by inserting at the end thereof the following new definition:-
““English learner increment”, the additional amount allotted within a district’s foundation budget for additional services for students identified as English learners pursuant to chapter 71A, including those enrolled in vocational and technical schools; provided, however, that the value of the increment for fiscal year 2019 shall be $2,444.60 multiplied by the number of English learners in the district and shall be adjusted annually thereafter by the foundation inflation index; provided further, that the portion of the increment supporting employee benefits and fixed charges shall be adjusted annually consistent with adjustments made to foundation benefit rates.”; and
in section 6 by striking out the first paragraph of Section 6 and inserting in place thereof the following:-
“Chapter 70 of the General laws is hereby further amended by inserting after section 4 the following section:-Section 4A. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, paragraphs 4, 12, 13, 25, 39, 48, 49, 50, and 58 of section 2 of chapter 70 shall be fully implemented by fiscal year 2024; provided, that the pace of implementation prior to fiscal year 2024 shall be determined annually by the legislature based on cost estimates to be provided annually by the department; provided further, that if revenue projections for the following fiscal year significantly exceed the available revenues for the current fiscal year, the rates for assumed in-school special education enrollment, foundation benefits, English learner increment and low-income increment may increase at higher rates to be determined by the legislature.”; and
in said section 6 by inserting after the word “investments;” the following:-
“provided that in developing the recommendations the commission shall consider transparency models used in other states or school districts, including but not limited to the Colorado K12 Transparency website and the Budget Transparency Guidebook of the Denver Public Schools;”; and
by striking out sections 7 and 8 and inserting in place thereof the following section-
“SECTION 7. Said section 2 of said chapter 70, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out the definition of “low-income enrollment” and inserting in place thereof the following definitions:-
“Low-income enrollment”, the number of low-income students attending school in a district regardless of residence or tuition-paying status; provided, however, that in determining the number of low-income students, the department shall use the preceding year's actual number of low-income full-day kindergarten, elementary, junior high or middle school, high school and vocational students and ½ of the preceding year's actual number of low-income half-day kindergarten and preschool students.
“Low-income increment”, the additional amount allotted within a district’s foundation budget for each low-income student; provided, however, that the department shall rank each district and divide the districts into deciles; provided further, that each district shall be assigned a low-income decile based on its low-income percentage that shall be calculated as its number of low-income students divided by the total foundation enrollment; provided further, that each decile shall be assigned a low-income increment where the increment for the lowest percentage decile shall be 50 per cent of the statewide per pupil amount for students with a family income of more than 185 per cent of the federal poverty level and the increment for the highest percentage decile shall be 100 per cent of the statewide per pupil amount for students with a family income of more than 185 per cent of the federal poverty level; and provided further, that when determining the statewide per pupil amount, the department shall use the average of the base rates in the enrollment categories of prekindergarten, kindergarten, elementary, middle school and high school, weighted by the number of students in each category.
“Low-income student”, a student who has a family income that is not more than 185 per cent of the federal poverty level.”; and
by striking out Section 9 and inserting in place thereof the following:-
“SECTION 8. Sections 1 to 5, inclusive, and section 7 shall take effect on July 1, 2019.