Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 603 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION › Title 603 CMR 10.00 - School Finance › Section 10.02 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
Chapter 70
means chapter 70 of the
				general laws.
Charter School
means a public school
				operating under M.G.L. c. 71, § 89, and
				603 CMR
				1.00:
Charter Schools
. This term
				encompasses Commonwealth and Horace Mann charter schools unless otherwise
				specified.
Circuit Breaker
means the
				reimbursement program for certain costs of special education as specified in
				M.G.L. c. 71B, § 5.
Collaborative Programs
means programs
				and services, including alternative and special education programs for
				students, offered by an educational collaborative established under M.G.L. c.
				40, § 4E.
Department
means the Department of
				Elementary and Secondary Education, acting through the Commissioner of
				Elementary and Secondary Education or his or her designee.
District or School District
means a
				municipal school department or regional school district, acting through its
				school committee or superintendent of schools, a county agricultural school,
				acting through its board of trustees or superintendent/director, any other
				public school established by statute or charter, acting through its governing
				board or director.
Equipment
means machines, tools,
				furniture, vehicles, and other non-expendable items with a useful life of more
				than one year and a per unit acquisition cost not less than $5000.
Extraordinary Maintenance
means the
				periodic servicing, repair or reconditioning of school buildings, grounds, or
				equipment to extend the useful life of an existing asset, provided that the
				total cost per project per school of an extraordinary maintenance project shall
				not exceed $150,000.
Function
means the activity for which
				a service or material is acquired. The functions in which school districts are
				required to maintain and report financial data shall be identified and
				described in guidelines for reporting student and financial data published by
				the Department.
General Fund Receipts
means funds
				received by a school district or municipality that are not granted or
				contributed to the district or municipality for a designated purpose and are
				not, by statute, set aside in a special account for expenditure at the
				discretion of the school committee.
Guidelines
means detailed descriptions
				and reporting criteria for each of the reporting categories in which data must
				be reported to the Department, instructions for allocating costs and
				attributing expenditures in various reporting categories, and any special rules
				applicable to particular reporting categories. The Department shall publish
				guidelines for reporting student and financial data after consultation with
				school and municipal officials, and shall, whenever possible, include in the
				guidelines advance notice of any anticipated changes in reporting which may
				necessitate a change in school district or municipal record keeping systems or
				practices.
Homeless Student
means a student who
				is homeless as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act's,
				definition of ?homeless children and youth,?
				42 USC
				11434(a)(2).
Homeless Student Transportation
means
				transportation of a homeless student to and from the student's school of origin
				that is located outside of the boundaries of the school district in which the
				homeless student temporarily resides. For purposes of homeless student
				transportation, school of origin means the school where the homeless student
				was last enrolled or the school attended when the student was permanently
				housed.
Low Income Student
means a student
				enrolled for full time attendance in a public school who is eligible for free
				or reduced cost lunches under eligibility guidelines set by the federal
				government under
				42 USC
				1758.
Materials
means non-expendable and
				expendable items with a useful life of less than one year or a unit acquisition
				cost under $5000.
Membership
means the number of days a
				pupil is enrolled, divided by the number of days in the school year. The
				Department may apportion a pupil's membership across the various programs in
				which the pupil participated.
Object
means the service or commodity
				obtained as a result of a specific expenditure. The object classifications in
				which school districts are required to maintain and report financial data shall
				be identified and described in guidelines published by the Department.
Program
means a plan of activities and
				procedures designed to accomplish a predetermined objective or set of
				objectives. The program classifications for which school districts are required
				to maintain and report financial data are identified at
				603 CMR
				10.03(3), and shall be
				described in guidelines published by the Department.
Pupil
means student.
Reimbursement
means funds received by
				a school district or municipality from the state or federal government or from
				a private insurer as partial or total repayment of a cost incurred by the
				district or municipality to provide a particular education related service to a
				particular student or students, but not including any amounts which are
				included in the state school aid which a district or municipality receives
				under M.G.L. c. 70.
Reporting Requirements/Reports
means
				data required by the Department to determine compliance, calculate tuition
				payments, aid or reimbursements or meet state or federal mandates. Required
				data shall be maintained in accordance with
				603 CMR
				10.00 and Department guidelines and provided to the
				Department in a form or through an electronic data transfer method established
				by the Department.
School Choice
means a program that
				allows a parent to enroll his or her child in a school district that is not the
				child's home district. Every year the school committee in each school district
				decides whether it will accept new enrollments under this program and, if so,
				in what grades.
Specialized Transportation
means a
				modified transportation service not normally provided for regular day students,
				designed to meet the special needs of a student for whom an individualized
				educational plan has been developed in accordance with M.G.L. c. 71B, §
				14, and
				603 CMR
				28.00:
Special Education
.
Student
means a person enrolled for
				full time attendance in the preschool through grade 14 educational programs
				operated by a public school, educational collaborative, or approved private
				school.
Certain other words and phrases used in
				603 CMR
				10.00 are defined at M.G.L. c. 70, § 2, and have
				those meanings.