By Representative Hall of Westford and Senator Panagiotakos, joint petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 445) of Geoffrey D. Hall and Steven C. Panagiotakos relative to changes to the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam for public school students.  Education.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PETITION OF:

Geoffrey D. Hall

Steven C. Panagiotakos

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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

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An Act relative to changes to the Massachusetts comprehensive assessment system exam. .

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1.  Chapter 69 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 1I thereof the following new section:—
Section 1I½. Notwithstanding any general or special law or any rule or regulation to the contrary, the department shall reimburse each public school district in a city and town for any and all costs incurred by said district to purchase new textbooks and instructional support materials, for the development of new curriculum and programs of studies and for conducting professional training of teachers and administrators and other support personnel as a result of any change made by the board or the department in the curriculum frameworks or the content area of the MCAS exam, or any other statewide examination, mandated by said board or department.
The department and board must give advance written notification to the superintendent of each school district in each city and town, at least three years prior to, of their intention to change any curriculum frameworks or the change in the content area of the MCAS exam, or any other statewide examination, mandated by said board or department before any such change may become effective.
Any change in the curriculum frameworks or the change in the content area of the MCAS exam, or any other statewide examination, mandated by said board or department shall be subject to the provisions of section 6B of chapter 11 and section 27C of chapter 29 of the General Laws to determine if the implementation of any such change shall have a “significant financial impact”, as defined in said section 6B, on any city or town prior to any such change going into effect.