Governor Deval Patrick's Budget Recommendation - House 2 Fiscal Year 2009

Governor's Budget Recommendation FY 2009

Executive Office of Education


Online Advertising of State Procurements

SECTION 4.   Chapter 7 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 22 the following section:-
Section 22 1/2. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, whenever a law requires a state agency, department, office, commission or authority to publish in a newspaper a notice of a public procurement or solicitation, it shall be sufficient instead to post that notice on a public government internet website, including the commonwealth's electronic bidding website.

 

Education Accountability Office under Secretary of Education

SECTION 7.   Chapter 15 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 55A and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
          Section 55A. (a) There shall be an office of educational quality and accountability, in this section called the office, within the executive office of education. The purpose of the office shall be to provide an independent mechanism to verify the efforts of schools and school districts to promote a higher level of academic achievement by students.
          (b) Subject to appropriation, the secretary of education shall appoint a director of the office and establish the salary for the director. With the secretary's approval, and subject to appropriation, the director shall employ such inspectors, auditors, professional assistants, attorneys, consultants and other staff as he deems necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of the office and shall determine their salaries and duties. Section 45 of chapter 30, chapter 31 and chapter 150E shall not apply to employees of the office. The secretary shall submit to the governor and the secretary of administration and finance a request for the annual appropriation required to carry out the mandate of the office.
          (c) The office shall act as an independent auditing body verifying educational measurements and tests conducted by or for the department of elementary and secondary education in implementing the mandates and directives of chapter 71 of the acts of 1993. The office shall perform not less than 24 school district audits annually. Specifically, the office shall have the following duties: (1) verify the accuracy of reports of schools and districts by conducting or contracting for periodic program and fiscal audits as necessary; (2) investigate allegations of any breach of academic integrity in the administration of any assessments administered by the department of elementary and secondary education; (3) undertake inspections of schools and school districts to determine the quality of instruction, the performance of administrative, instructional and other staff and make recommendations about the school and school district goals and performance; (4) review the district's MCAS success plan, if any, submitted to the department of elementary and secondary education pursuant to section 1I of chapter 69 and evaluate the implementation of said plan; (5) review the district's implementation of any MCAS grants received to develop or enhance academic support services for students scoring in level 1 or 2; (6) review the impact of unanticipated growth in enrollments and the cost of special education on municipal education budgets, where applicable including, but not limited to, the impact of said costs on other areas of appropriation within the municipal budget; (7) evaluate the alignment of curriculum and professional development plans with the state curriculum and assessments; (8) review the progress of student achievement.
          (d) For the purposes of any inspection, or audit, the director shall have access to all necessary papers, vouchers, books, and records pertaining to a school, including a charter school, a school district, and regional school district. Schools, school districts and school personnel shall cooperate with the director for purposes of any inspection or audit pursuant to this section, including but not limited to, participating in interviews and producing books and documents. The office shall ensure that any instance of noncompliance with the law, misfeasance or malfeasance, shall be referred to the attorney general of the commonwealth and the secretary of education for appropriate action.
          (e) The office shall transmit its findings and any resultant recommendations to the governor, the secretary of education, the board of elementary and secondary education, the attorney general, the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the clerk of the house of representatives who shall forward the same to the joint committee on education. The office shall compile these audits and inspections into annual reports. The office may coordinate with the activities of the board of elementary and secondary education to implement section 1J of chapter 69.

 

Transfers Between Operating and Capital Funds

SECTION 28.   (a) Whenever the commonwealth has borrowed funds as authorized by law to fund the acquisition of equipment that would have otherwise been funded under an item of appropriation in section 2, the secretary of administration and finance may authorize the transfer of funds from the item of appropriation in section 2 from which the equipment acquisition would have been funded to any other item of appropriation for the purpose of funding personnel or other operating-related expenses that would have otherwise been funded in the fiscal year 2009 capital budget from the proceeds of bonds. The secretary may establish an appropriation account to receive this transfer if none exists under section 2. Any amount transferred under this section shall not exceed the cost of the related equipment acquisition, and the aggregate amount of all such transfers shall not exceed $50,000,000.
          (b) Before making any transfer authorized by this section, the secretary of administration and finance shall submit a transfer report and certification to the house and senate committees on ways and means. The report and certification shall include the following: (1) a schedule showing the cost of equipment acquisition that would have been funded from an item of appropriation in section 2, the item of appropriation from which the equipment would have been funded and the bond authorization against which bonds may be issued to fund the acquisition of the equipment; (2) a schedule showing the cost of all personnel and other operating expenses that would have been funded from the fiscal year 2009 capital budget, identification of each of the agencies that pay the related expenses, the item in the capital budget and the bond authorization from which the personnel or operating expenses would have been funded, and the item of appropriation in section 2 from which the personnel or operating expenses will be funded; (3) a schedule of each amount that will be transferred from one item of appropriation in section 2 to another under subsection (a) in order to effectuate the transactions described in clauses (1) and (2); and (4) a certification of the secretary confirming that the equipment will be acquired in fiscal year 2009 with bond proceeds pursuant to the fiscal year 2009 capital budget and the bond authorization identified in clause (1).

 

UMass/EHS Interagency Service Agreements

SECTION 34.   Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the executive office of health and human services under section 16 of chapter 6A of the General Laws, acting in its capacity as the single state agency under Title XIX of the Social Security Act and as the principal agency for all of the agencies within the executive office, and other federally assisted programs administered by the executive office, may enter into interdepartmental services agreements with the University of Massachusetts medical school to perform activities that the secretary, in consultation with the comptroller, determines are appropriate and within the scope of the proper administration of Title XIX and other federal funding provisions to support the programs and activities of the executive office. These activities shall include: (1) providing administrative services, including, but not limited to, activities such as providing the medical expertise to support or administer utilization management activities, determining eligibility based on disability, supporting case management activities and similar initiatives; (2) providing consulting services related to quality assurance, program evaluation and development, integrity and soundness and project management; and (3) providing activities and services for the purpose of pursuing federal reimbursement or avoiding costs, third party liability and recouping payments to third parties. Federal reimbursement for any expenditures made by the University of Massachusetts medical school relative to federally reimbursable services the university provides under these interdepartmental service agreements or other contracts with the executive office of health and human services shall be distributed to the university, and recorded distinctly in the state accounting system. The secretary may negotiate contingency fees for activities and services related to the purpose of pursuing federal reimbursement or avoiding costs, and the comptroller shall certify these fees and pay them upon the receipt of this revenue, reimbursement or demonstration of costs avoided. Contracts for contingency fees shall not extend longer than 3 years, and shall not be renewed without prior review and approval from the executive office of administration and finance. The secretary shall not pay contingency fees in excess of $40,000,000 for state fiscal year 2009. The secretary of health and human services shall submit to the secretary of administration and finance and the senate and house committees on ways and means a quarterly report detailing the amounts of the agreements, the ongoing and new projects undertaken by the university, the amounts spent on personnel and the amount of federal reimbursement and recoupment payments that the university collected.

 
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