7010-0005 Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

For the operation of the department of elementary and secondary education; provided, that notwithstanding chapter 66A of the General Laws, the department of elementary and secondary education, the department of early education and care, the department of children and families and the disabled persons protection commission may share with each other personal data regarding students who receive services in special education programs approved, licensed, monitored or regulated by the department of elementary and secondary education and the department of early education and care to carry out their respective responsibilities under state and federal law; provided further, that the department of elementary and secondary education may fund direct support to teachers and administrators who are providing services to assist in state education initiatives; provided further, that the department of elementary and secondary education shall conduct an assessment on the education workforce in school districts across the commonwealth; provided further, that such assessment shall include, but not be limited to: (i) the number of teachers who have completed a certification program in high--need subject areas, which may include, but shall not be limited to science, technology, mathematics, computer science, special education, and English as a second language; (ii) the number of teacher vacancies in high--need subject areas by school district; (iii) the number of vacancies in high--need subject areas as compared to total number of teacher vacancies; and (iv) the ratio of teachers to students in each school district; provided further, that not later than February 2, 2026, the department of elementary and secondary education, in consultation with the executive office of education, shall submit a report on their findings to the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate, the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on education; provided further, that not less than $100,000 shall be expended for the department to conduct a study on school transportation for school districts across the commonwealth and propose changes to improve efficiency and contain costs; provided further, that the study shall include, but not be limited to: (a) an evaluation of the school transportation procurement process and national best practices; (b) opportunities for regional procurement of school transportation services; (c) the long term costs and benefits of school districts operating their own transportation services; (d) methods to reduce the cost of special education out--of--district transportation; (e) methods to create efficiencies for homeless student transportation costs; and (f) other methods to improve efficiencies and reduce the cost of student transportation; provided further, that not later than February 15, 2026, the department shall submit recommendations to the executive office of education, the executive office for administration and finance, the joint committee on education and house and senate committees on ways and means; provided further, that the department of elementary and secondary education shall collect data on guiding principles and standards of the most current comprehensive health and physical education framework; provided further, that each city, town, regional school district, vocational school district and charter school, in consultation with the department of elementary and secondary education, shall file a biennial report regarding sexual health education, which shall include, but not be limited to: (i) the name and a description of any sexual health education curriculum offered; (ii) the approximate number of hours spent on sexual health education; (iii) the number of students enrolled in sexual health education; (iv) the number of students who withdrew from sexual health education pursuant to section 32A of chapter 71 of the General Laws; and (v) other information as requested by the department of elementary and secondary education pertaining to the guiding principles and standards of the most current comprehensive health and physical education framework; provided further, that said report shall be filed with the board of elementary and secondary education, starting in calendar year 2026 by a date determined by the board; provided further, that data collected under this section be made available to the public on the department's website; provided further, that data shall be shared with the department of public health within 30 days of the date established by the board for the filing of biennial reports under chapter 69 of the General Laws; provided further, that not less than $100,000 shall be expended to expand advanced placement course offerings through innovative delivery models for high school students in the commonwealth; provided further, that not less than $200,000 shall be expended for the department to study and make recommendations to improve the adequacy and equitability of the formula to determine a municipality's target local contribution and required local contribution, as those terms are defined in section 2 of chapter 70 of the General Laws; provided further, that said study and recommendations shall include, but not be limited to: (i) the adequacy and equity of the methodology used to determine a municipality's target local contribution and required local contribution as a measure of a municipality's ability to contribute to its foundation budget; (ii) the impact of local contributions to pre--kindergarten to grade 12, inclusive, education on municipalities' ability to maintain and fund adequate levels of municipal services, including aggregate trends in municipal spending on education and non--educational services and the primary drivers of such trends; (iii) the impact of the fixed 59 per cent local share of the statewide foundation budget on the calculation of combined effort yield for each municipality; (iv) the extent to which the wealth and income measures in the formula accurately and fairly determine a municipality''s ability to contribute to its foundation budget costs; (v) the impact of the growing number of municipalities that are subject to the 82.5 per cent maximum local required contribution cap; (vi) the number of municipalities receiving minimum per pupil aid and the impact of such aid on those municipalities; (vii) the impact of section 21C of chapter 59 of the General Laws on municipalities and their ability to make their required local contributions; and (viii) potential additional methods of measuring a municipality's ability to contribute to its share of education funding; provided further, that the department shall identify the implications of changes to the existing mechanisms that determine municipal contributions and the total state target local contribution including, but not limited to: (a) changes to maximum local required contribution caps, including the establishment of different maximum local required contribution tiers based on a municipality's fiscal capacity relative to their foundation budget; (b) changes to the total statewide target local contribution; (c) impacts of declining enrollments on state and municipal contribution targets since the adoption of the aggregate wealth model; (d) changes that would address challenges that are unique to rural and regional districts; and (e) to the extent feasible, what the potential impacts of such changes would be if phased in over multiple years; provided further, that the department shall work in collaboration with the division of local services to inform its analysis of existing and potential modifications to local contribution requirements; provided further, that the department shall solicit public input and hold not less than 4 public hearings in different geographic areas of the commonwealth; provided further, that the department shall post a draft report and hold a public hearing and solicit public comment on said draft report; and provided further, that not later than June 30, 2026, the department shall submit its final report to the joint committee on education and the house and senate committees on ways and means, which shall include any recommendations for regulatory and legislative changes