The Educational Enterprise

Legal Issues

Last Updated August 18, 2008

• Selected Massachusetts General Laws for Schools : Selected General Laws is available from MASC. One copy for each School Committee member and one copy for each Superintendent are been mailed to the Superintendent's office in each member school district. If you would like to order additional copies, please e-mail your request to: click here to order online.
  • Chapter 71 § 41:" A school committee may award a contract to a superintendent of schools or a school business administrator for periods not exceeding six years which may provide for the salary, fringe benefits, and other conditions of employment, including but not limited to, severance pay, relocation expenses, reimbursement for expenses incurred in the performance of duties or office, liability insurance, and leave for said superintendent or school business administrator."
    
• Massachusetts State Ethics Commission
  • Introduction to the Conflict of Interest Law for the Public Officials and Public Employees : Public employees may not accept anything worth more than $50 from anyone for whom you have official dealings. This includes Teachers receiving gifts, grants or donations from students or parents. The School Committee under M.G.L. Chapter 44: Section 53A. Grants and gifts; acceptance and expenditure must accept all grants, gifts and donations and approve all expenditures.
• Request an Opinion from the State Ethics Commission
• The Top Ten Rules Municipal Employees Need to Know About the Conflict of Interest Law
• Ethics Primer: The Code of Conduct
• Ethics Primer: Receiving Gifts and Gratuities
• MUNICIPAL PRIMERS
  
• Public Records Law M.G.L. Ch 4, § 7b(26):
  • Public Records Law
  • Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law
• Special Education
  • Comprehensive Study of Special Education in Massachusetts. Sponsored by the Center for Special Education Finance, this report was published in 1995, and details the findings of an examination of SPEd in Massachusetts.
  • Special Education. This site provide important links for Special Education and school restructuring. The site also provides important information about education reform with a focus on how it connects to Special Education.
    
• Exchange Students and Visas
  • Legal Requirements for F-1 Foreign Students in Public Schools
    • Student Visas
      
• Town By-Laws and Town Personnel By-laws (Town/City Clerk)
  
• Municipal Law
  • Massachusetts Attorney General
    • Open Meeting Law
    • Municipal Law Unit
    • AG's Public Records Role
    • Initiatives & Other Ballot Questions
    • AG's Regulations
    • AG's Opinions
    • Government Forms and Publications
  • Massachusetts Department of Revenue Division of Local Services
    • Contact us for Legal Advice
    • In our Opinion - Updates post 1995
    • In Our Opinion (link unavailable: A collection of summaries of legal opinions issued by the Division of Local Services. Spanning the years from 1992 through 1995.)
    • Publications and Forms
    • Municipal Finance Laws (also Department of Revenue Division of Local Services or State Book Store)
    • Subscribe to Division of Local Services Electronic Mail Notification Service
      
• Massachusetts Municipal Association Law Links
  
• Other Law Reference Sites
  • Education Law/School Law
  • The Litigation Site
  • Mediation, Legal Reform, and Law Essays. This mediation and dispute resolution resources site contains substantial on-line materials for alternative dispute resolution and mediation.
  • Consumer Law Page
  • The American Bar Association Home Page
  • U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library
  • Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School
  • The World Wide Web Virtual Library: Law: Law Journals