Representatives Patrick of Falmouth, Turner of Yarmouth, Verga of Gloucester, Linsky of Natick, Kocot of Northampton, Cory Atkins of Concord, Brownsberger of Belmont, Ehrlich of Marblehead, O'Day of West Boylston, Canavan of Brockton, Callahan of Sutton, Fresolo of Worchester, Sannicandro of Ashland, Sullivan of Fall River ,Canessa of New Bedford ,DiNatale of Fitchburg, L'Italien of Andover, Rice of Gardner, Natale of Stoneham, move that the bill be amended in section 2, by inserting after item 7061-0008 the following item;

“7061-0011 For a reserve to: (1) meet extraordinary increases in the minimum required local contribution of a municipality as calculated pursuant to the requirements of section 3; provided, that a municipality seeking funds hereunder shall apply for a waiver from the department of revenue pursuant to section 67; provided, further, that the commissioner shall issue a finding concerning such waiver applications within 30 days of the receipt thereof, after consulting with the commissioner of education regarding the merits of such application; (2) meet extraordinary increases of greater than 25 per cent in a municipality’s required contribution to any of the districts to which the municipality belongs as a result of the regional allocation methodology; provided, that preference in the awarding of these funds shall be given to municipalities whose required local contribution exceeds 60 per cent of their foundation budget; provided further, that preference in the awarding of these funds shall be given to municipalities that were not awarded such funds in fiscal year 2008; provided further, that not less than $800,000 shall be used for this purpose; (3) assist regional school districts which, prior to fiscal year 2009, have assessed member towns using the provisions of their regional agreement, and which, in fiscal year 2009, will assess member towns using the required contributions calculated pursuant to section 3; (4) assist towns impacted by stresses in the commercial agricultural, fishing or lobster industry whose required local contribution exceeds 75 per cent of their foundation budget; (5) assist towns negatively impacted by shortfalls in federal impact aid for the education of children in families employed by the federal government on military reservations located within the town's limits; provided, that any grants provided under this item shall be expended by a school committee without further appropriation; (6) assist regional school districts in rural areas which meet each of the following 3 criteria: (a) have fewer than 40 full-time enrollment students per square mile; (b) have experienced more than 6.5 per cent enrollment decline between fiscal year 2003 and fiscal 2008; and (c) have a target aid percentage greater than 50 per cent; provided, that any grants provided under this item shall be expended by a school committee without further appropriation; (7) assist districts experiencing enrollment declines that have implemented programs in conjunction with a public college or university designed to re-enroll students who have dropped out; provided, that any grants provided under this item shall be expended by a school committee without further appropriation; (8) assist municipalities with median per capita income below the state average and equalized valuation per capita above the state average; provided, that preference in the awarding of funds shall be given to municipalities with required local contributions greater than 80 per cent of their foundation budgets;  (9) to assist towns in which in excess of one-third of the total land mass of the town is owned and controlled by the commonwealth and which receive payment in lieu of taxes on less than 25 per cent of said land; (10) assist districts which meet each of the following  criteria: (a) receive an increase of less than 10% from FY08 aid levels to FY09 chapter 70 (b) have required net school spending of 100% of the foundation budget (c) have foundation enrollment loss from FY08 to FY09; provided, that any grants provided to school districts under this item shall be expended by a school committee without further appropriation; provided further, that the department shall make not less than 80 per cent of awards from this item not later than October 15, 2008;and provided further, that no funds distributed from this item shall be considered prior year chapter 70 aid nor used in the calculation of the minimum required local contribution for fiscal year 2009………………………………$5,500,000”