reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 69 § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 69 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education|Section 9 - Classes for Illiterates and Foreigners

Section 9. The department, with the cooperation of any town applying therefor, may provide for such instruction in the use of English for persons eighteen years of age or over unable to speak, read or write the same, and in the fundamental principles of government and other subjects adapted to fit for American citizenship, as shall jointly be approved by the local school committee and the department. Schools and classes established therefor may be held in public school buildings, in industrial establishments or in such other places as may be approved in like manner. Teachers and supervisors employed therein by a town shall be chosen and their compensation fixed by the school committee, subject to the approval of the department.
MA Gen L ch 69 § 9a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 69 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education|Section 9a - Establishment of Class

Section 9A. Upon application of twenty or more residents of any city or town who are eighteen years of age or over certifying that they desire to attend a class for instruction of the type described in section nine, the school committee of such city or town shall establish and cause to be conducted such a class or classes for a period of not less than forty sessions; provided, that, in case the attendance of any such class falls below fifteen, such school committee may discontinue such class.
MA Gen L ch 69 § 10 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 69 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education|Section 10 - Reimbursement for Expenditures

Section 10. Expenditures for courses maintained under sections nine and nine A, with the approval of the department, shall be reimbursable under chapter seventy.
MA Gen L ch 69 § 10a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 69 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education|Section 10a - Education for American Citizenship; Director

Section 10A. The department is charged with responsibility for leadership in the co-operative study and fuller use, in the public schools and teachers colleges of the commonwealth, of teaching materials and methods, student activities, and administrative and supervisory procedures directed toward more effective preparation for the duties of American citizenship. The board of education shall appoint a director to carry out the purposes of this section, and shall provide said director with such facilities and assistance as may be requisite for the discharge of his duties.
MA Gen L ch 69 § 11 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 69 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education|Section 11 - Powers and Duties of the Division of Immigration and Americanization

Section 11. The division of immigration and Americanization shall employ such methods, consistent with law, as in its judgment, will tend to bring into sympathetic and mutually helpful relations the commonwealth and its residents of foreign origin, protect immigrants from exploitation and abuse, stimulate their acquisition and mastery of English, develop their understanding of American government, institutions and ideals, and generally promote their assimilation and naturalization. For the above purposes, the division may co-operate with other officers and departments of the commonwealth and with all public agencies, federal, state or municipal. It may investigate the exploitation or abuse of immigrants and in making any investigation may require the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books and documents relating to the matter under investigation. Subject to the approval of the department and of the commission on administration and finance, the division may make reasonable charges for any service rendered or material furnished by it.
MA Gen L ch 69 § 30a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 69 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education|Section 30a - Standards for Educational Institutions; Establishment; Revocation of Powers to Grant Degrees

Section 30A. The board of higher education shall establish standards relative to faculty, equipment, courses of study, financial organization, facilities, physical plant and leadership which shall apply to any educational institution for which said council has approved the certificate of organization or an article of amendment under the provisions of section thirty.  If said board has reason to believe that any such institution does not comply with such standards it may, after a hearing, suspend or revoke the power of such institution to grant degrees. Proceedings under this section shall be deemed to be adjudicatory proceedings as defined in section one of chapter thirty A and shall be subject to the provisions of said chapter thirty A, except that (1) pending a final decision by the court the institution shall continue to have the power to grant degrees, (2) no suspension or revocation under this section shall become effective until the time for filing a petition for review has expired and (3) the council shall forthwith notify the state secretary upon any suspension or revocation under this section becoming effective.
MA Gen L ch 69 § 31a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 69 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education|Section 31a - Awarding of Degrees and Courses Leading to Award of Degrees; Necessity of Authorization

Section 31A. An educational institution chartered, located, offering courses or otherwise doing business within the commonwealth shall not award degrees within the commonwealth unless authorized or approved to do so by the commonwealth.  An educational institution chartered, incorporated or organized in another state shall not conduct within the commonwealth courses available to residents of the commonwealth that lead to the award of a degree unless the educational institution has received the authorization of the commonwealth for such courses; provided, however, that authorization may be granted by the board of higher education through the board of higher education's participation in an interstate reciprocity agreement under section 9 of chapter 15A. The board of higher education shall be responsible for the implementation of this section.
MA Gen L ch 69 § 31c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 69 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education|Section 31c - Notification of Accreditation of Institution to Applicant for Admission Upon Acceptance Required

Section 31C. Any college, university, community college, junior college and other school of higher education, whether public or private, shall, upon accepting any applicant for admission to such institution, notify said applicant in writing whether or not said institution has been accredited by a recognized regional or professional accrediting agency.
MA Gen L ch 70 § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70 - School Funds and State Aid for Public Schools|Section 1 - Legislative Intent

Section 1. It is the intention of the general court, subject to appropriation, to assure fair and adequate minimum per student funding for public schools in the commonwealth by defining a foundation budget and a standard of local funding effort applicable to every city and town in the commonwealth.
MA Gen L ch 70 § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70 - School Funds and State Aid for Public Schools|Section 3 - Foundation Budget; Regulations; Calculation of Budget

Section 3. (a) There shall be a foundation budget for the school district in each municipality, regional school district, independent vocational school and vocational school and agricultural school operated by a county.  The foundation budget shall be calculated based on each district's foundation enrollment for the prior fiscal year. Foundation budgets shall be based on the per pupil amounts in table 1 and the foundation increment amounts in table 2; provided, however, that the special education in-school and special education tuitioned-out enrollments shall be assumed enrollments. Beginning in fiscal year 2021 and in each year thereafter, the employee benefits and fixed charges allotments shall be adjusted by the foundation employee benefits inflation rate and all other foundation allotments and foundation increments shall be adjusted by the foundation inflation index.  Each district's wage adjustment factor shall be applied to all of the foundation allotments except the allotments for instructional materials, equipment and technology, employee benefits and fixed charges and special education tuition.  For each student identified as being low-income or an English learner, the increments in the following table shall be added to each foundation allotment. (b) The board shall promulgate regulations as needed to implement this section. The board shall submit any regulations to the senate and house committees on ways and means and the joint committee on education not less than 60 days before adoption. The joint committee on education shall review and may comment on these regulations during that time period.
MA Gen L ch 70 § 3a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70 - School Funds and State Aid for Public Schools|Section 3a - Data Necessary to Generate Required Minimum Local Contribution and State Aid Components; House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means

Section 3A. The secretary of administration and finance in cooperation with the commissioner of revenue and the commissioner of education shall make available to the house and senate committees on ways and means, in an electronically compatible format the criteria, components, equations, and underlying data necessary to generate the required minimum local contribution and each component of state aid authorized for distribution to municipalities and school districts pursuant to this chapter.
MA Gen L ch 70 § 6 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70 - School Funds and State Aid for Public Schools|Section 6 - Contributions by Municipalities for Support of Local Schools and School District

Section 6. In addition to the amounts appropriated for long-term debt service, school meals, adult education, student transportation and tuition revenue, each municipality shall annually appropriate for the support of public schools in the municipality in an amount not less than the net school spending requirement. Each municipality shall also appropriate not less than its minimum required local contribution for each regional school district to which the municipality belongs.  The commissioner shall estimate and report such amounts to each municipality and regional school district as early as possible, but not later than March 1, for the following fiscal year and shall revise such estimates within 30 days following the enactment of the general appropriations act.  Notwithstanding the terms of any regional school district agreements to the contrary, no regional school district shall be required to submit a budget to its members before receiving the commissioner's initial estimate. Each regional school district budget shall provide for not less than the net school spending requirement. The district may choose to spend additional amounts; provided, however, that such decisions shall be made and such amounts charged to members according to the district's regional agreement.
MA Gen L ch 70 § 8 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70 - School Funds and State Aid for Public Schools|Section 8 - Districts' Methods for Allocating Appropriated Funds; Under-Performing Districts; Restrictions

Section 8. Except as required by General Law, each school district may determine how to allocate any funds appropriated for the support of public schools without regard to the categories employed in calculating the foundation budget; provided, however, that effective July 1, 1997, school or school districts which are determined to be under-performing or chronically under-performing within the meaning of sections 1J and 1K of chapter 69 may not allocate any such funds to cover legal expenses incurred in challenging such determination or in challenging actions taken by the board, the department or the commissioner in connection with such determination.
MA Gen L ch 70 § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70 - School Funds and State Aid for Public Schools|Section 9 - Reports on Expenditures and Staffing for Foundation Categories

Section 9. Each school district shall report district and school level data to the commissioner, in a form and manner prescribed by the commissioner, on expenditures and staffing for each foundation category. The reports shall provide actual spending for each foundation category. The reports shall be made publicly available on the department's website.
MA Gen L ch 70 § 10 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70 - School Funds and State Aid for Public Schools|Section 10 - Aid Paid to Municipalities and Districts; Amounts

Section 10. Subject to appropriation, each municipality, regional school district, independent vocational school and county operating an agricultural school or vocational school shall receive chapter 70 school aid as provided in this chapter. Tuition payments required pursuant to section 89 of chapter 71 and section 12B of chapter 76 shall be deducted from such aid.
MA Gen L ch 70 § 11 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70 - School Funds and State Aid for Public Schools|Section 11 - Excess Funds; Application to Following Fiscal Year

Section 11. If in any fiscal year a district's actual expenditure for public education is less than the amount required to be appropriated for public education pursuant to this chapter, the difference, up to 5 per cent of the amount required to be appropriated, shall be spent for public education in the following fiscal year; provided, however, that any unexpended funds, whether appropriated to the school committee account or to town accounts for expenditure to meet public education costs, shall be deemed reappropriated for public education in the following year without further action by the appropriating authority; provided, further, that the amount of state school aid for the following fiscal year shall be reduced by the amount said difference exceeds 5 per cent of the amount required to be appropriated; and provided, further, that in any year in which additional money is required to be spent due to a spending deficiency in the prior year, if a district fails to spend the carried forward amount or under-spends its current year budget by more than 5 per cent of the amount required to be appropriated for that year, state school aid in the following year shall be reduced by the entire difference between those amounts. The board shall promulgate regulations to enforce the provisions of this section.
MA Gen L ch 70 § 13 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70 - School Funds and State Aid for Public Schools|Section 13 - Allocation of Funds

Section 13. If the amount appropriated for chapter 70 school aid in a fiscal year is less than the amount prescribed in sections 2 and 3, priority shall be given to funding foundation aid.
MA Gen L ch 70 § 14 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70 - School Funds and State Aid for Public Schools|Section 14 - Exemption of Certain Districts From Chapter

Section 14. For any district in which fewer than twenty percent of the students scored below the state average on the assessment tests required by chapter sixty-nine, the city or town, or all cities and towns comprising a regional school district, may exempt the district from the provisions of this chapter by accepting this section in the manner prescribed by section four of chapter four. Any district so exempted shall continue to receive fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-three base aid, but shall not receive any additional state aid and shall not be required to meet the local obligation requirements of this chapter.  If, in any future year, a district so exempted fails to meet the assessment standards described above, or for any other reason is not exempt from this chapter, it shall, in that and future years, be subject to the same obligations and entitled to the same aid under this chapter in each year as districts that were never so exempted.
MA Gen L ch 70 § 15 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70 - School Funds and State Aid for Public Schools|Section 15 - Applicability of Chapter

Section 15. This chapter shall apply to all cities, towns, and regional school districts, notwithstanding section twenty-seven C of chapter twenty-nine, and without regard to any acceptance or appropriation by a city, town or regional school district or to any appropriation by the general court.
MA Gen L ch 70b § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70b - School Building Assistance Program|Section 1 - School Building Assistance Program; Establishment

Section 1. Whereas the school building assistance program is the largest capital grant program operated by the commonwealth and is necessary for the establishment of public school buildings in the commonwealth; and whereas the costs of the school building assistance program are increasing at an unsustainable rate and local governments need flexibility in school building assistance to ensure that local needs for school facility space, downtown development, open space and community space are met; and to promote the thoughtful planning and construction of school facility space in order to insure safe and adequate plant facilities for the public schools, and to assist towns in meeting the cost thereof, there is hereby established a school building assistance program. It is in the best interests of the commonwealth and its citizens to create an authority to achieve the objectives of effective management and planning of the commonwealth's investments in school building assets, promoting positive educational outcomes, ensuring the health, safety, security and well-being of students, easing and preventing overcrowding, maintaining good repair, efficient and economical construction and maintenance, financial sustainability of the school building assistance program, thoughtful community development, smart growth and accessibility.
MA Gen L ch 70b § 3a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70b - School Building Assistance Program|Section 3a - School Building Advisory Board; Establishment; Members

Section 3A. There shall be a school building advisory board comprised of: the state auditor or a designee; the inspector general or a designee; the superintendent of the state police or a designee; the state fire marshal or a designee; the director of the Massachusetts emergency management agency or a designee; the executive director of the authority, who shall serve as the secretary to the advisory board and shall be a nonvoting member of the board; and 17 members to be appointed by and represent the following nongovernmental organizations: Massachusetts Municipal Association, Inc., Massachusetts Association of School Committees, Inc., the Massachusetts Mayors Association, Inc., Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, Inc., Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools, Inc., Massachusetts Building Trades Council, the Massachusetts chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors, Inc., Massachusetts Alliance for Small Contractors, American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts, Associated Subcontractors of Massachusetts, Inc., American Institute of Architects–Massachusetts, Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Inc., Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts, Inc., Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association Incorporated, Fire Chiefs' Association of Massachusetts, Inc. and acting jointly, the Massachusetts Teachers Association and Massachusetts Federation of Teachers. The advisory board shall assist the authority in the development of general policy regarding school building construction, renovation, reconstruction, maintenance and facility space, preservation of open space and minimization of loss of open space, thoughtful community development, cost management, adequate provisions for safety and security and shall provide technical advice and input to the authority. The advisory board shall meet at least quarterly.
MA Gen L ch 70b § 3d (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XII - Education|Chapter 70b - School Building Assistance Program|Section 3d - Accounts; Annual Report

Section 3D. The authority, in cooperation with the state treasurer, shall at all times keep accounts of all receipts, expenditures and disbursements and all assets and liabilities of the authority, which shall be open to inspection by any officer or duly appointed agent of the commonwealth. The authority shall submit an annual report, in writing, to the governor and the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate, who shall forward the same to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the chairpersons of the house and senate committees on ways and means and the house and senate chairpersons of the joint committee on education, arts and humanities. The report shall include financial statements relating to the operations, assets and expenditures of the authority maintained in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles so far as applicable and audited by an independent certified public accountant firm.