SENATE DOCKET, NO. 400 FILED ON: 1/12/2009
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 41
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PRESENTED BY:
Anthony D.
Galluccio
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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill:
An Act relative to educational stability for foster children.
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PET
ITION OF:
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Name:
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District/Address:
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Anthony D.
Galluccio
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Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex
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Karen E. Spilka
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Second Middlesex and Norfolk
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Thomas M. McGee
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Third Essex and Middlesex
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Susan C. Tucker
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Second Essex and Middlesex
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Mark C. Montigny
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Second Bristol and
Plymouth
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Jennifer L. Flanagan
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Worcester and Middlesex
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Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.
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26th Middlesex
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Elizabeth Poirier
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14th Bristol
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the Year Two Thousand and Nine
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An Act relative to
educational stability for foster children.
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. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to
the contrary, the commissioner of the department of children and families, in consultation with office of the child advocate and the secretary of education, shall develop a statewide plan for the educational stability of children placed in foster care.
(b) The plan shall take into account: (i) the number of school aged foster children in the Commonwealth; (ii) the feasibility of extending the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.), as it relates to school stability, to foster c
hildren in the Commonwealth, including whether foster children can continue their education for the duration of the academic year in the school they were enrolled in before entering foster care if determined to be in their best interest; (iii) the loss of
learning time due to changing schools during the academic year; (iv) procedures for transferring academic and other records expediently when a foster child is placed in a new schools; (v) the need to designate for each child a foster care education advocat
e to facilitate placement, records transfer, calculation of credits earned, and other transition issues; (vi) funding and transportation issues arising from foster children remaining in their schools of origin, including any issues that have arisen under t
he McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act; and (vii) federal, state and local funding sources for transportation of students to their school of origin.
(c) The plan shall identify strategies for promoting educational stability for foster children and sh
all include recommendations for administration and legislative actions
, including but not limited to legislation that requires local school districts to adhere to different residency requirements for relocated foster children
. Not later than 12 months afte
r the effective date of this act, the plan shall be filed with the clerks of the senate and house of representatives, the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities, and the joint committee on education.
