Session Laws

Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to make more attractive and enhance the status of the teaching profession, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.

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. Section 13 of chapter 188 of the acts of 1985 is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

Each city, town, regional school district, educational collaborative or independent vocational school which accepts the provisions of this section in accordance with the second paragraph after the first payment date of February fifteenth, nineteen hundred and eighty-six, but before June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighty-six, shall be eligible to receive the full amount of said payment which said city, town, regional school district, educational collaborative or independent vocational school would have otherwise received. Said grant payment shall be sent by the department of education upon receipt of certification of formal votes of acceptance.

SECTION 2. Said chapter 188 is hereby further amended by striking out section 17 and inserting in place thereof the following section:- Section 17. Any city, town, regional school district, educational collaborative or independent vocational school district which employs teachers at salaries below eighteen thousand dollars and which accepts the minimum salary provisions of section forty of chapter seventy-one of the General Laws for school years commencing after July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-five shall receive a minimum teachers salary grant from the commonwealth in fiscal years nineteen hundred and eighty-six and nineteen hundred and eighty-seven equal to the cost incurred by such city, town or regional school district during said fiscal years as a result of increasing to eighteen thousand dollars the salary of each teacher whose salary was below that level prior to October thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighty-six.

Any city, town, regional school district, educational collaborative or independent vocational school which employs teachers at salaries below eighteen thousand dollars and which accepts the minimum salary provisions of section forty of chapter seventy-one of the General Laws for school years commencing after July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-six, shall receive a minimum teachers' salary grant from the commonwealth in fiscal year nineteen hundred and eighty-seven equal to the cost incurred by such city, town or regional school district during said fiscal year, as a result of increasing to eighteen thousand dollars the salary of each teacher whose salary was below that level prior to October thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighty-six. As a condition of receiving funds under this section, the city, town, regional school district, educational collaborative or independent vocational school shall certify to the department that all teachers with respect to whom funds are sought under this section have been hired at a salary not less than that offered to teachers hired in comparable positions as of July 1, 1985.

SECTION 2A. Section 11 of chapter 188 of the acts of 1985 is hereby amended by striking out the last paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

The chapter seventy minimum guarantee of any regional school district or independent vocational school shall be the chapter seventy guarantee received in either of the fiscal years nineteen hundred and eighty-three or nineteen hundred and eighty-four, whichever is greater.

SECTION 3. Upon the effective date of this act, any such teacher who is employed in a city, town, regional school district, educational collaborative, or independent vocational school district which has accepted or does accept the minimum salary provisions of section forty of chapter seventy-one of the General Laws before June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighty-six at a salary below the minimum salary level of eighteen thousand dollars shall be compensated retroactive to July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-five, or said teacher shall be compensated retroactive to the date he is first employed, whichever is later.

SECTION 4. Nothing in this act shall be deemed to discourage local acceptance of the provisions of section thirteen of chapter one hundred and eighty-eight of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-five prior to February fifteenth, nineteen hundred and eighty-six.