Tuesday, March 24, 2009

State Education Mandates - Part 3

From time to time, particular around the budget period, reference is generally made to Franklin Public Schools having to support "unfunded mandates." I managed to find a listing of such compiled by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. This is Part 3 in the series:

Transportation to School for the General Student Population

Districts are required to provide transportation to all students in grades K through 6 who live two miles or more from the school. Regional districts receive transportation reimbursement for about 85% of these costs, but municipal school district aid was eliminated during lean budget years and has not been restored.

Administrative Mandates with Cost Implications

In addition to the 15 systems identified above, other mandates with cost implications include:

• Criminal records checks for all staff having unsupervised contact with students and other school employees.

• Emergency evacuation plans add training time, signs, posters and other means of alerting.

• Title I Requirements for costs associated with delivery of services and the reporting and documentation requirements often exceed funding.

• Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI) training – requires that the district provide training for instructors who then instruct a majority of staff members in techniques to de-escalate student crises. Associated costs are incurred to hire substitutes for classes whose teachers are required to participate in training.

• Pre-school requirements – Districts must ensure that they provide integrated (ratio of regular and special education) settings for all students in accordance with the regulations of Early Education and Care. The requirements for assessment, evaluation, and provision of services are costly.
The full listing is available here (DOC)

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