Education - Senator Cindy Friedman

Senator Friedman has sponsored the following bills relative to education in the 2019-2020 legislative session:

Summary: Under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 15A, section 19A, there currently exists a student loan repayment program known as the Attracting Excellence to Teaching program. This bill would extend the program’s loan repayment period from 48 months to 96 months.

Summary: This bill concerns access to affordable, quality early education and child care, including care during non-standard work hours, in the Commonwealth.

Senator Friedman has co-sponsored the following bills relative to education in the 2019-2020 legislative session:

Summary: This bill would establish a Student Loan Borrowers’ Bill of Rights and create the position of Student Loan Ombudsman housed in the Office of the Attorney General and funded by licensing fees levied on student loan servicers. The bill would require student loan servicers to be licensed through the Division of Banks and would give the Commissioner of Banks the power to enforce new rules and regulations related to student loan servicers. It would also require that state employees be informed of their right to public loan forgiveness.

Summary: The bill would implement the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission to fully fund our public schools.

Summary: This bill would ensure that schools electing to teach sexual education select a curriculum that is medically accurate, age-appropriate and comprehensive.

Summary: This bill would require the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to align regulations with policy recommendations from the US Department of Health and Human Services. Additionally, the legislation would require the EEC to issue performance specification targets aimed at reducing the use of suspension and expulsion, ensuring exclusion policies are free from bias, and teaching more about behavioral health supports.

Summary: This bill would require all public K-12 schools with 60% or more students eligible for free or reduced-price meals under the federal National School Lunch Program to offer breakfast after the instructional day begins. Moving breakfast from before the bell to after the bell is a proven, simple, and effective strategy to boost breakfast participation and ensure that all students start their day ready to learn.

Summary: This bill would address legal issues pertaining to sexual abuse of children, including exempting child sexual abuse survivors from the requirement to report an abuse within five days if a duly licensed medical health professional certifies that the delay resulted from the typical response of abuse victims. Further, this bill would provide that in cases of child sexual abuse the three year statute of limitations on claims for compensation begins to run three years after a claimant first makes the connection between the sexual abuse and the harm suffered as a result. Finally this legislation would criminalize an employee in a public or private school, or a state child serving agency, who has engaged in sexual contact with a student under the age of 19.

Summary: This legislation would require the Commonwealth to reimburse school districts the cost of providing transportation to children and youth experiencing homelessness as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. This legislation also allows school districts to establish a Homeless Children and Youth School Transportation Reimbursement Fund.

Summary: Many working parents find that the high cost of child care/pre-school makes a return to work financially impossible. This bill would create a program through subsidies and credits to allow parents of children up until the age of 13 (and through 18 if the child has a disability ) to access child care and pre-school education through a system of reduced tuition, while supporting the income of the child care workers and ensuring standards of care.

Summary: The bill would implement the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission to fully fund our public schools.

Summary: Also known as the CHERISH Act, this bill would direct the Governor to restore higher education funding to the inflation-adjusted level it was in 2001 to address skyrocketing tuition, large class sizes, student debt, and more.

Summary: This bill would create a state grant program tasked with covering tuition and mandatory fees for all students admitted or enrolled in a Massachusetts public college or university, or at a certificate, vocational, or training program at a public institution.

Summary: This bill would require that $20 million be set aside for the endowment match program to provide matching funds for public higher education institutions. Specifically, $10 million would be allocated to the University of Massachusetts system, $5 million to state universities, and $5 million to community colleges.

Summary: This bill would allow persons with intellectual disabilities, autism and other developmental disabilities to access state colleges and universities in order to gain skills necessary to work and live independently in the community as adults. It implements key recommendations of the legislative Task Force on College Inclusion by allowing individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to participate in courses and campus life even though they have not passed the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). Access to college allows these students to learn vocational, job and independent living skills, and results in a significantly higher rate of employment and higher wages. The legislation codifies the Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative grant program which, since 2007, has successfully supported partnerships between high schools and public institutions of higher education in order to include students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.