District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Proposed Amendments to 603 CMR 41, Regional School District Regulations

State law (M.G.L. c.71, s.16B) provides that the Commissioner shall "assume operation" of a regional school district if the member towns have not adopted a budget by December 1 of any fiscal year. This year, one regional district, Southern Berkshire, did not have an adopted budget as of December 1, 2007. This is the first time in many years that we have had to invoke this statutory provision.

At its October 30, 2007, meeting, the Board voted to promulgate emergency regulations to establish the procedures to be followed by districts and the Department under these circumstances. Emergency regulations are limited in duration to three months. In order to make the regulations permanent, the Administrative Procedures Act (M.G.L. c.30A), requires that we solicit public comment, and we have done so. Comments were received from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, in support of the amendments; from the Department of Revenue; and from several representatives of the Southern Berkshire Regional School District, including Superintendent Valerie Spriggs, business administrator Christine Regan, and the finance subcommittee of the Regional School Committee. The DOR and school district comments, which were submitted at the very beginning of this process, identified some potential technical issues that we might need to address. In the first month and a half of state oversight, however, the process has gone very smoothly and no real problems have cropped up. Accordingly, it is my recommendation that the Board vote to make these regulations permanent without any further changes at this time. At the end of the fiscal year, we will review our experience with district staff and DOR and decide then whether any fine-tuning is needed for future years.

Attached are the text of the proposed amendments to the regulations and a motion for their approval. Associate Commissioner Jeff Wulfson and Deputy General Counsel Kristin McIntosh will be available at the meeting to answer any questions.