RESOLUTION 1—Sharing of Information on
Students Attending Charter Schools with the Sending School Districts
Submitted by: Everett School Committee

Endorsed by: Somerville and Melrose School Committees

WHEREAS each charter school shall conclude its principal enrollment process no later than March 15 of each year, and shall file a pre-enrollment report annually with the Department of Education in accordance with deadlines established by the Department. The Department will report to districts the aggregate number of students who are anticipated to attend charter schools during the upcoming school year from their districts and the total enrollment for each charter school. No charter school shall receive tuition payments that exceed the total enrollment for that charter school as it was reported to the Department. Each charter school shall also submit reports no later than October 15 and March 1 of actual enrollment as of October 1 and February 15, respectively. The report shall be filed on a form provided by the Board of Education; and

WHEREAS charter schools shall be funded through the local school district and charter schools shall submit a budget request annually, in accordance with the budget schedule of the local school district and no later than April 1, to the superintendent and school committee of the district in which the charter school is located. The school committee shall act on the charter school budget request in conjunction with its approval of the district's overall budget. A charter school's budget allocation shall be consistent with the allocation of other public schools in the district; and

WHEREAS each operating Commonwealth charter school shall receive tuition payments from each school district whose students attend the charter school. Such tuition payments shall be equal to the appropriate charter school tuition rate, as determined in accordance with 603 CMR 1.08 (3), multiplied by the number of students attending the charter school from the sending district in the current year. For students who attend the charter school for less than the full year, the tuition payment shall be reduced based on the number of days of enrollment. Such tuition payments shall be paid in accordance with 603 CMR 1.08 (6); and

WHEREAS many Massachusetts school districts must fund additional programs to meet the demands of No Child Left Behind and MCAS;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that MASC file legislation that will require the Department of Education and/or the charter school will provide the names, addresses and dates of birth of all pre-enrolled and actual charter school students to the sending district on October 1st, March 1st and the last day of school in addition to all required enrollment reports.

RATIONALE: This will allow all sending districts and charter schools to have an accurate accounting on a quarterly basis of the number of students enrolled in the charter school by sending district during the entire school year.
It will also allow sending districts the opportunity to accurately identify their expected charter school tuition rate from Chapter 70 funds when preparing their annual budget. The reduction in charter school enrollment by five students will allow the sending district the ability to hire an additional teacher, which can be used to reduce class size, provide additional instruction for students with Limited English Proficiency, for students who are English Language Learners, or provide other additional educational programs.

RESOLUTION 2—RESOLUTION REGARDING THE INCLUSION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION TRANSPORTATION COSTS IN THE CIRCUIT BREAKER
Submitted by: Hudson School Committee

WHEREAS school districts continue to experience significant increases in special education costs that are compromising their regular education programs and their ability to make the gains necessary to achieve adequate yearly progress;

WHEREAS special education transportation statewide in FY06 exceeded the costs of regular education transportation and was increasing at a rate 50% higher than regular education costs;

WHEREAS special education transportation is written into a child’s IEP and is part of his or her program;

WHEREAS special education transportation to out-of-district placements are often regional in nature and yet districts do not receive regional transportation aid for these costs;

WHEREAS the circuit breaker aid program was intended to provide state aid to offset the high cost of programs for students with special needs;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that MASC file legislation or give its support to existing legislation that will have the effect of ensuring that the calculation of circuit breaker aid should include the cost of transportation for both in-district and out-of-district students and that the circuit breaker funding be increased to ensure that districts receive 75% of their expenditures above four times the foundation budget for those students who qualify under the circuit breaker.

RATIONALE: The Special Education Circuit Breaker provides districts with reimbursement for a major part of extraordinarily high-cost service plans for students. Often these plans require students to be transported to the service delivery site, frequently significant distances from the sending city or town. The circuit breaker does not currently reimburse districts for the transportation costs involved, leaving them to use general operating funds. This resolution would include transportation costs in special education reimbursement covered by the circuit breaker.

RESOLUTION 3—PUBLIC POLICY AGENDA

WHEREAS Delegate Assemblies of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees have passed several resolutions pertaining to the governance of public schools; and

WHEREAS the positions advanced at the Delegate Assembly continue to be relevant to the best interests of the membership;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that MASC affirms its advocacy positions on the following matters of public policy, calling upon the legislature to:

1. Provide adequate state funding for publicly governed schools, a state tax rate that sustains adequate funding, and sufficient fiscal authority for local school committees.
2. Reorganize the State Board of Education, and remove the prohibitions against sitting school committee members and practicing public school educators from serving on the Board.
3. Direct 100% of state Medicaid reimbursements to school districts that are providing the services to be retained by those districts.
4. Enact a moratorium on new charter schools and charter school expansion until issues of funding and governance are resolved, and establish a rigorous accountability program for charter schools that provide an accurate, comparable measure of student achievement with non-charter schools.
5. Restore to School Committees the right which they enjoyed until April of 2004 to approve School Improvement Plans.
6. Develop a variety of assessment instruments so that no single test determines the fate of a student; evaluate the impact of the MCAS on teaching and learning; and assess the impact of MCAS, including the effect on school drop-out rates, on certain vulnerable categories of students, including, but not limited to vocational students, disabled students, and English Language Learners. (not supported by the Resolutions Committee)
7. Restore to school districts greater flexibility in serving English Language Learners. (not supported by the Resolutions Committee)

RATIONALE: MASC’s Delegate Assembly has historically taken positions that bind the Association on matters of public policy. Over the past few years, the Assembly has affirmed several important positions that remain timely. These policy positions guide our lobbying and advocacy efforts. They are by no means complete but represent key issues before the legislature at this time. Because opinions shift and public policy evolves constantly, the Board of Directors has put the seven items before the Assembly for 2007 to allow the membership an opportunity to confirm or modify its stances. In two instances where the Resolutions Committee declined to support items but where the Board of Directors has decided to put the items before the Assembly, special notes are inserted.
• Item 1 reaffirms the need for fair funding, an adequate state tax rate, and preservation of the right of the School Committee to manage school finances.
• Item 2 continues the call for reconstitution of the State Board of Education and elimination of restrictions for membership.
• Item 3 would allow all districts to retain all Medicaid reimbursements which now revert to cities and towns to distribute at their discretion back to schools.
• Item 4 calls for a moratorium on new charter school approvals until the state can complete research and impose higher standards of accountability on these programs.
• Item 5 would restore to School Committees the authority to approve, rather than review, school improvement plans.
• Item 6 calls for using more than the MCAS test to determine, for example, the criteria for high school graduation and would encourage more research of appropriate assessments for students at risk.
• Item 7 would allow districts to develop more flexible academic programming for English Language Learners than the limited options approved by voters in 2004 (“Question 2”).

RESOLUTION 4—FOUNDATION BUDGET
Submitted by: MASC Board of Directors

WHEREAS the Foundation Budget, as established by Chapter 70, is designed to establish a level of “adequacy” of funding to support the operating costs of public schools; and

WHEREAS the Foundation Budget is used as a benchmark to help determine the level of financial assistance to school districts under Chapter 70; and
WHEREAS it is the widely held belief that the Foundation Budget as constituted does not reflect the actual cost of educating a child in the Massachusetts public schools;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Massachusetts Association of School Committees calls upon the legislature to:
• Revise the Chapter 70 formula with the appropriate changes in order that the Foundation Budget will reflect the actual cost of educating a child in each Massachusetts city, town, and regional school district.
• Urge the legislature to convene an “adequacy study group” for the expressed purpose of determining an accurate level of the Foundation Budget that will reflect the true cost of educating a child in Massachusetts.

RATIONALE: The Foundation Budget is a complex calculation that uses student enrollment and related costs per student for expenses related to education to determine a level of funding that is considered legally “adequate” to serve students in a district. State financial assistance to districts, provided under the provisions of Chapter 70 of the MA General Laws and appropriated annually by the legislature, is tied to the Foundation Budget. Many advocates believe the Foundation Budget is understated but, to date, there is little research in Massachusetts to document this position. This resolution calls for a study authorized by the legislature to study the components of the Foundation Budget and the appropriateness of the current formula to identify a more accurate and defensible level of “adequacy” for state funding of public schools.
Approved by Board of Directors on July 12, 2007.