Bill
S 449
Requires districts to verify licensure with supervisor attestations and IPDP docs within 90 days; unlicensed educators can't accrue creditable service; DESE may audit.
Status: Introduced in the Massachusetts Senate (filed 1/6/2025); referred to the Committee on Education. Hearings scheduled (per docket): 10/14/2025 and 12/02/2025.
Sponsor/Filed by: Presented by Sen. Bruce E. Tarr (by request); petition of Kevin Wood. (Note: an alternate sponsor list included in the materials appears inconsistent with the bill text and likely relates to other measures.)
Purpose
- To strengthen documentation, supervisory attestation, and enforcement around educator licensure and to prevent the accrual of creditable service time by educators who are not properly licensed.
Key provisions
- Technical edits: Amends Section 38G of Chapter 71 (2022 edition) by striking the phrase “of employment” in two locations (lines 21 and 28) — a drafting/clarifying change to existing statute.
- Documentation and supervisor attestation requirement: Requires each school district to submit to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) — with any Standard license application or at time of renewal — supporting documents within 90 days. Required materials include, but are not limited to:
- Individual professional development plans (IPDPs),
- Professional development points,
- A digital signature from the educator’s supervisor attesting that reported activities are consistent with the educator’s IPDP and recommending the granting or renewal of the license.
- Creditable service prohibition: Any educator who is found to be not properly licensed is prohibited from accruing creditable service time (for purposes such as salary step, retirement credit, or comparable service-time calculations) during the period of non-licensure.
- Audit authority: DESE is authorized, at its discretion, to conduct audits of school districts to ensure proper licensure and compliance with the new documentation/attestation requirements.
Who is affected
- Educators seeking initial Standard licenses or renewals: will face new documentary and supervisory-attestation requirements.
- School districts and their boards/trustees: responsible for collecting, verifying, and submitting supporting documentation within 90 days and for maintaining compliance subject to DESE audit.
- Supervisors/principals: required to provide a digital attestation that professional development activities align with the educator’s IPDP and to recommend license actions.
- DESE: gains explicit audit authority to verify district compliance.
- Educators found unlicensed: lose the ability to accrue creditable service time during periods without proper licensure, which may affect pay and retirement calculations.
Potential impacts and considerations
- Administrative burden: districts will need workflows and recordkeeping systems to assemble and submit PD plans, PD points, and supervisor digital attestations within the 90-day window.
- Compliance risk: districts face audit exposure; educators risk loss of service credit if licensure lapses or is found improper.
- Timing: the 90-day submission timeline applies to initial Standard license applications and renewals; the bill does not specify penalties beyond the prohibition on accruing creditable service and the possibility of DESE audits.
- Interaction with existing rules: the bill amends an existing statutory licensure provision (M.G.L. c.71, §38G) and delegates discretionary audit authority to DESE; implementation may require administrative rules or guidance from DESE.
Related/precedent measures
- Bill references and replaces prior-session items (e.g., S.4843, S.1857, S.369, S.1532) and is listed as replacing SD 19 from earlier dockets.
This summary focuses on the operative text of S.449 as filed (educator license accountability). Note that an alternative bill title included in the materials — regarding policies for treatment of transgender or gender non-conforming students — does not appear in the bill text and may be from a different measure; the substance summarized above reflects the actual amendments inserted into Chapter 71, Section 38G.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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