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S 370

Allows cooperative agreements by licensees to sell wine or liquor at retail for consumption off the premises

2025 Regular Session Introduced by James Skoufis

The bill sets minimum educator pay floors (70k/55k rising to 80k/65k) with state reimbursements to districts and periodic inflation-based adjustments.

REFERRED TO INVESTIGATIONS AND GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
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Bill Summary · S 370

Summary — S. 370 (2025): An Act relative to educator pay

Note: the bill text provided concerns educator pay (sponsored in the Massachusetts Senate by Adam Gómez and others). Some metadata in the prompt (title about alcohol sales; sponsors listed as U.S. senators) appears inconsistent with the bill text. This summary follows the enacted bill text (S. 370 / Senate Docket No. 1019) regarding educator compensation.

Purpose

Establish statutory minimum compensation floors for public school teachers and “education support professionals” in Massachusetts, require state reimbursement to local districts and educational collaboratives for the increased costs, and set a process for periodic inflation-based adjustments.

Key provisions

  • Amends Chapter 71, Section 40:

    • Declares a Commonwealth goal that all public school educators be paid at least a living wage (per the MIT Living Wage Calculator).
    • Sets minimum compensation for specified employees:
    • Initially: $70,000 minimum for teachers and $55,000 minimum for education support professionals for school years commencing after July 1, 2025.
    • Later increase (Section 2): raises those floors to $80,000 for teachers and $65,000 for education support professionals for school years commencing after July 1, 2030. (Section 2 takes effect July 1, 2030.)
    • Defines “education support professional” broadly to include paraeducators, tutors, family liaisons, interpreters/translators, clerical, custodial, food services, health/student services, security, skilled trades, technical and transportation workers, qualified practitioners under the Medicaid school-based program, etc., but excludes teachers and positions requiring certain professional certifications (e.g., under section 38G or chapter 74).
    • Exempts persons in training and temporary substitutes from the teacher compensation floor.
    • Allows compensation to be treated as fully earned at the end of the school year and permits deferral into equal payments over a 12‑month period (including summer months).

  • State reimbursement (beginning FY2026):

    • Commonwealth reimburses districts/collaboratives for the cost increases caused by the new minimums.
    • Reimbursement schedule for each district’s increase: 100% in the year the increase occurs; 60% in the first subsequent year; 40% in the second subsequent year; and 20% in the third subsequent year.
    • Reimbursements must not be deducted from Chapter 70 distributions or other existing state appropriations.

  • Periodic adjustment:

    • Beginning July 1, 2035, and every five years thereafter, the Executive Office of Labor & Workforce Development will adjust the minimum rates by the rate of inflation over the prior five-year period using CPI-W (or successor index). Adjusted rates take effect the following September 1 and are eligible for reimbursement under the same schedule.

  • Labor relations:

    • Implementation must be consistent with Chapter 150E collective bargaining obligations (wages, hours, working conditions). Districts may pay more than the statutory minimums.

Who is affected

  • Directly: public school teachers (as defined in chapter 32 and 807 CMR 4.00) and a broad set of education support professionals employed by school districts or educational collaboratives.
  • Indirectly: school district budgets, municipal finances, regional collaboratives, and the state budget (because of mandated reimbursements).

Timeline & implementation highlights

  • School years commencing after July 1, 2025: initial $70K/$55K floors (per Section 1).
  • July 1, 2030: Section 2 takes effect, raising floors to $80K/$65K for school years commencing after that date.
  • FY2026: reimbursement obligation from the Commonwealth begins.
  • July 1, 2035 and every five years: CPI-based automatic adjustments, effective the following Sept. 1.

Fiscal and operational considerations

  • The bill creates a recurring state fiscal obligation to reimburse districts for personnel cost increases with a multi-year tapering schedule. The text does not include a cost estimate or appropriation; fiscal impact would depend on current local pay scales and workforce size.
  • Implementation must proceed consistent with collective bargaining; the bill does not unilaterally change negotiated contracts but sets minimum statutory floors.

Legislative status (selected actions)

  • Introduced in the Senate (filed 1/15/2025; introduced 2/3/2025).
  • Referred to committees including Finance and Education; hearings scheduled (Oct 14, 2025; Dec 2, 2025 per docket).
  • Current listed status: referred to Investigations and Government Operations (metadata contains duplicates and inconsistencies).

If you want, I can:
- Produce a short fiscal-impact checklist (variables to estimate state and local costs);
- Extract the precise statutory text changes for insertion into a memo or bargaining guidance.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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