An Act establishing a college tuition tax deduction

This bill aims to alleviate some of the burden of tuition payments on students and families who pay tuition to a Massachusetts public college or university to make obtaining a higher education more affordable and accessible. Higher education costs have skyrocketed over the past few decades, driving students into crushing debt while pursuing a degree. This legislation allows students to deduct up to 50% of tuition and fee payments.  

Massachusetts relies on a highly educated workforce to propel economic growth, especially in healthcare, biotechnology, and advanced manufacturing. Approximately 70% of Massachusetts high school graduates who move on to higher education attend a public college or university. In a time when too many students across Massachusetts are struggling to afford college, it is critical that Bay Staters can continue to afford degrees to fill these good, high paying jobs and support these industries in their home state.

An Act to close the achievement gap by addressing disparities in children's vision

The bill is based on the 2021 Report of the Childhood Vision and Eye Health Commission and would implement its recommendations by creating a computerized registry of children’s vision screening eye care and a children’s vision and eye health advisory council within the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. This council would establish recommendations for improved children’s vision and eye health to facilitate short and long-term vision and eye health goals. The legislation also expands the current requirement for a recent eye exam for children entering kindergarten to those entering pre-school. Further, it would apply the requirement for an eye exam to also include private schools.   

This bill is crucial to ensure no child falls behind due to lack of access to basic vision care. Approximately 10% of all preschool children have eye or vision problems. Research shows that 90% of all information processed by the brain arrives through the visual system — eye care and vision play integral roles in healthcare and are fundamental to learning. Currently, for pre-school aged children, if symptoms of vision impairment are not caught by a parent, guardian, or educator, they risk losing integral developmental years.

An Act relative to advanced placement examinations

Currently, standards for accepting AP credits vary widely in Massachusetts’ public higher education system, with no guarantee that the substantial time, energy, and money invested into these courses will translate into college credits. This legislation requires all public higher education institutions to develop and adopt written policies and procedures to accept scores of 3, 4, and 5 on all advanced placement examinations to satisfy degree requirements. It also requires that these policies be published on university and college websites.

This bill is modeled after similar legislation signed into law in 36 states aimed to help more students get an early start on college.

An Act assisting low-income students success through work-study

This bill would establish a Career Pathways Work Study Trust Fund to help subsidize the costs of work-studies for students enrolled in the Commonwealth’s community colleges. The Trust Fund would also help support an education opportunity coordinator through the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges. The trust fund will also help fund internships that would otherwise be unpaid, and thus inaccessible to students who have families that rely on their income to get by.

While success in the classroom is an obvious, it is impossible to understate the relevance of internships and work study opportunities that lend practical experience and so often lead directly to employment opportunities after graduation. Some schools offer assistance to find and succeed in these programs, however too often these positions are reliant on connections based on family, friends, and wealth — specifically the ability of students to work at an unpaid position. Too many students from low-income backgrounds are forced to miss out on these important opportunities to experience a workplace and build the networks necessary to succeed. The goal of this legislation is to uplift these students by placing at least one such coordinator on each of the community college campuses to assist students with career planning, accessing financial aid, and identifying a program of study.

Resolve establishing a sexual assault counselor certification task force

This bill would establish a task force to review and update curriculum and training of rape crisis center employees or volunteers and to examine the feasibility of providing continuing education and college credits with the completion of training programs. The task force’s scope includes fees and costs associated with certification and licensure for rape crisis centers and professionals.

Currently, the Commonwealth contracts with 17 providers across the state to deliver rape crisis center service. Through contractual obligations, these organizations can be held to high standards, however there is no mechanism to do so with non-contracted individuals and organizations. This legislation is critical to ensure that anyone claiming to be a physician, nurse, social worker, or mental health counselor and providing services to survivors of sexual assault has met minimum training requirements and credentials associated with the title to protect these individuals who are already dealing with the trauma of sexual violence. 

An Act relative to local approval for charter schools

When a new charter school opens in a community, every single student and their families are affected, whether they choose to attend or not. These schools siphon already limited tax dollars away from public schools, shifting the economics of these often-struggling institutions and forcing them to stretch the dollars they continue to receive even further. Too often, decisions about charter school expansion are made in rooms that are far removed from the local classrooms and students that will be affected most.  

This bill returns the final say for charter school expansion back in the hands of our communities. The bill would require charter schools receive approval via either an elected school committee, a city/town council and the mayor for cities and towns without an elected school committee, and from voters at a town meeting in the towns where the charter school is expected to enroll students. If a charter school does not receive approval from the towns, they may still open though without receiving Chapter 70 or local funding.

This bill intends to provide local leaders, residents, and students with a better understanding of, and have greater say as to how their tax dollars are spent.

An Act relative to municipal unemployment insurance reform

This bill would make teachers, professional and nonprofessional educational employees who work on behalf of the school system but are paid through municipal budgets, ineligible to collect unemployment insurance benefits when school is not in session by extending them a “reasonable assurance” of employment. The bill would also reduce unemployment benefits by an amount equal to 65% of a retiree’s weekly pension for retirees collecting both unemployment benefits and a pension from the same public or private employer.  

In 2012, a task force was convened by Governor Deval Patrick in response to concerns about the municipal unemployment insurance system. This panel was composed of representatives of both public-sector labor and management. One recommendation sought to address the issue of school-based employees who are paid by the municipality directly and not by the school department, to collect unemployment benefits during school vacations and the summer break. Another recommendation seeks to address the issue of a retiree collecting both unemployment benefits and a defined benefit pension from the same public or private employer. The committee released a report more than 10 years ago containing a series of recommendations — and reforms are still necessary. As cities and towns try to manage finances, these are important loopholes to close.

An Act relative to the alignment of the University of Massachusetts police

This bill was filed in regard to the retirement of the officers of the University of Massachusetts Police Department. These officers are expected to perform at the same level as municipal police across the Commonwealth, receiving the same training, wielding the same powers, rights, and responsibilities — yet are entitled to a fraction of the retirement benefits. This inequity has lasting detrimental effects on the University’s police force, which experiences a high rate of turnover, with many citing the lack of benefits as a primary reason for departure. The lack of continuity and inability to retain talented and dedicated officers is especially harmful in the unique scenarios that compromise campus policing.

This bill aims to rectify this inequity by moving their retirement group from Group 2 to Group 4, aligning the retirement benefits for all officers of our police departments. 

Resolve establishing a special commission on the Dover amendment

This legislation establishes a special commission to study the use and effectiveness of the zoning approval process of educational uses under the so-called Dover Amendment. The commission would study the impact of the education exemption provided by the Dover Amendment on municipalities and nonprofit education institutions, which shall include a review of the types of building projects sited under the protection of the Dover Amendment and the case law decided on the educational exemption.

While the Dover Amendment is an important piece of state law, some believe that the education provision is overly broad and can be falsely invoked by those looking to circumvent local zoning requirements.