Amendment #746 to H4000

CHERISH Act FY22 Funding

Representatives Garballey of Arlington, Mark of Peru and Higgins of Leominster move to amend the bill in section 2, in item 1108-5200, by inserting after the word “teachers;” the following:-

provided further, that funds shall be expended in this item for faculty employed by the state’s public colleges and universities pursuant to section 4A of this act;

And further amend said item by striking out the figure “$1,826,778,807” and inserting in place thereof the following figure:- $1,839,778,807

And further amend the bill by inserting, after section 4, the following section:-

SECTION 4A. Section 2 (e) of Chapter 32A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended in line 117 by inserting after the word “hours” the following: - “; or a faculty member who teaches the equivalent of at least two three or more- credit courses per semester, or four three or more- credit courses per calendar year at one or more of the public institutions of higher education in the state, as set forth in Section 5 of Chapter 15A, including a division of continuing education, regardless of funding source, including but not limited to subsidiary account CC, and regardless of the term of employment or participation or membership in a retirement system or plan; provided, that notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the commonwealth, not the public higher education institutions, shall bear the employer cost of a faculty member who teaches the equivalent of at least two three or more- credit courses per semester, or four three or more- credit courses per calendar year.

And moves to amend section 2, by inserting the following item:-

1599-XXXX........ For a reserve for costs associated with providing part-time and adjunct faculty at the public institutions of higher education with pro rata pay equity pursuant to section 4B of this act................... $7,000,000

And further amend the bill by inserting, after section 4, the following section:-

SECTION 4B Notwithstanding any general or special law, rule or regulation to the contrary, all part-time and adjunct faculty shall receive pay that is equal, on a pro rata basis, with that of full-time, non-tenure track faculty of comparable qualifications doing comparable work, which shall include, but not be limited to, teaching, research and service.

And further amend the bill by inserting, after section 4, the following section:-

Section 4C. Chapter 15A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after Section 19E the following section:-

Section 19F. The board of higher education is hereby authorized and directed to establish a student loan repayment program to be known as the Debt-Free Future for Educators Program, for the purpose of encouraging graduates of the Commonwealth’s public institutions of higher education to work as educators in a school district, as defined in section 2 of chapter 70 of the General Laws, by providing for the repayment of their qualified education loans. The term qualified education loan shall mean any indebtedness including interest on such indebtedness incurred to pay tuition or other direct expenses incurred in connection with the pursuit of an undergraduate degree by an applicant but shall not include loans made by any person related to the applicant. The program shall be administered by the board of higher education in consultation with the trustees of the university of Massachusetts, the board of governors of Quincy College and the commissioner of the department of elementary and secondary education.

The board of higher education shall promulgate guidelines, for the effective implementation of the program, which shall include, but not be limited to, the following provisions:

(1)Eligibility for the program shall be limited to educators who have graduated from public institutions of higher education including Quincy College after January first, two thousand and twenty one.

(2)Subject to rules established by the board the commonwealth shall repay a participating educator’s qualified education student loans in full over a period of five years.

(3)The program shall be consistent with chapter 132 of the acts of 2019 goal of diversifying the educator workforce.

(4)If funds appropriated for this program are insufficient to cover costs of eligible applicants, priority shall be given to educators working in school districts with the highest shares of students who are designated as low income, as defined in Chapter 132 of the Acts of 2019.

(5)There is hereby established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund, to be administered by the board of higher education, which shall be known as the Debt-Free Future for Educators Trust Fund. The fund shall be credited with: (i) appropriations, bond proceeds or other money authorized or transferred by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund; (ii) funds from public and private sources, including, but not limited to gifts, grants and donations; (iii) any interest earned on such money. Amounts credited to the Debt-Free Future for Public Educators Trust Fund shall be used, without further appropriation, by the board of higher education, to carry out the debt-free future for public educators program established in this section; and (iv) revenues deposited in the fund that are unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund and shall be available for expenditure in the following fiscal year. No expenditure made from the fund shall cause the fund to become deficient at any point.

And further amend section 2 of the bill by inserting after item 7070-0066 the following item:

“7070-0067 Debt-Free Future for Public Educators Trust Fund established in Section 4C of this act............$6,000,000”.

And further amend said section 2, in item 7070-0065, by striking out the figures “$130,000,000” and inserting in place thereof the figures “$156,000,000”.

And further amend in said item by inserting the following words:-

“provided further, that funds from this item shall be made available for the MASSGrant Plus programs in an amount not less than $26,000,000 above the amount made available in fiscal year 2021;”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7100-4002, by striking out the figures “$10,500,000”and inserting in place thereof the figures “$21,000,000”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7502-0100, by striking out the figures “$12,377,077” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$12,718,346”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7503-0100, by striking out the figures “$24,331,205” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$24,884,438”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7504-0100, by striking out the figures "$13,936,494” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$14,217,874”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7505-0100, by striking out the figures “$11,920,787” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$12,274,202"

And further amend said section 2, in item 7506-0100, by striking out the figure "$23,057,079” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$23,670,222”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7507-0100, by striking out the figures “$18,136,471” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$18,527,341"

And further amend said section 2, in item 7508-0100, by striking out the figure “$24,474,243” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$24,901,540”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7509-0100, by striking out the figure “$16,567,137” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$16,870,328"

And further amend said section 2, in item 7510-0100, by striking out the figure “$22,385,471” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$23,087,031"

And further amend said section 2, in item 7511-0100, by striking out the figure “$24,600,186” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$25,627,148"

And further amend said section 2, in item 7512-0100, by striking out the figure “$24,375,528” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$25,118,209"

And further amend said section 2, in item 7514-0100, by striking out the figure “$28,400,449” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$29,316,974"

And further amend said section 2, in item 7515-0100, by striking out the figure “$12,164,754” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$12,619,701"

And further amend said section 2, in item 7516-0100, by striking out the figure “$26,643,284” and inserting in place thereof the following figures “$27,522,810”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7518-0100, by striking out the figure “$30,259,026” and inserting in place thereof the following figures “$31,270,963"

And further amend said section 2, in item 7100-0200, by striking out the figure “$571,179,919” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$594,621,189"

And further amend said section 2, in item 7109-0100, by striking out the figure “$52,106,936” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$54,237,643"

And further amend said section 2, in item 7110-0100, by striking out the figure “$33,771,458” and inserting in place thereof the following figures “$34,534,204”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7112-0100, by striking out the figure “$33,193,587” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$34,366,830”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7113-0100, by striking out the figure “$18,734,535” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$19,282,234”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7114-0100, by striking out the figure “$51,050,658” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$52,203,007”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7115-0100, by striking out the figure “$31,621,476” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$32,749,714”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7116-0100, by striking out the figure “$31,126,398” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$31,851,979”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7117-0100, by striking out the figure “$20,783,873” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$21,657,639”

And further amend said section 2, in item 7118-0100, by striking out the figure “$19,355,243” and inserting in place thereof the following figures "$20,130,869”

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #746 to H4000

CHERISH Act FY22 Funding