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Position Papers

School Safety: Expanding the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Act and Other Strategies to Protect Students, Including Banning the Sale of Assault Weapons

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Many provisions of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Act establish programs to help protect students at all levels. These include grant programs to implement policies and action steps designed to secure facilities and protect children in a variety of ways. In one significant way, these strategies fall short.

Several recent gun-related tragedies involving schools and public venues where children and adults have been harmed have, once again, demanded that we focus on school safety and, in particular, the protection of students and faculty and the public at large from the danger posed by firearms and other weapons in schools. We recognize that there is no inherent right for anyone other than an appropriately authorized public safety officer to bring a weapon into a public school, but current law is insufficient to deter this possibility.

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Legal Bulletin: School Committee Positions on Ballot Questions

MASC General Counsel Stephen Finnegan has released a legal bulletin addressing the question of whether a school committee member can take a position on a ballot question.


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Unfunded and Underfunded State and Federal Education Mandates

The complete and updated list of state and federal unfunded and under-funded mandates is now available from MASC!

Please feel free to share this information with your community and legislators as Massachusetts school districts and the state put together their FY16 budgets for education spending and beyond.

View MASC's complete list of current Massachusetts and US unfunded and under-funded mandates (pdf)

A School's Leader's Guide to Powerful Education Advocacy

Education advocacy is one of a school committee member's most powerful, and critical, roles. You are the link between the citizens of your community who you represent and your legislators, both of whom need your help in making sense of complex education issues and understanding the implications of these at the local level. Can you really have an impact on the decision-making process? Absolutely!

Read the MASC guide to effective lobbying strategies, including advice on how to make your voice heard — on the Hill and in the media.

School Committee Members’ Summary and Guide: 2014 Public Policy Priorities

Legislators have a lot to know. You have to help educate them on our issues.
Legislators are exposed to more than 150 different areas of public policy at any given time. From school budgets to probate law reform, or environmental concerns to health care for all, citizens come to their state representatives and senators with problems that require a lot of special knowledge to address.  Legislation for the aged population, working persons, migrating families, and children in general are all highly specialized matters of public policy. No legislator can possibly know all there is to know!

Read more here (pdf).

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  1. Issues in School Governance
  2. MASC 2014 Position Papers