By Bob Katzen
Allows changes to the state’s high school standardized testing requirements. The measure would allow Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley to authorize changes to the state’s high school standardized testing requirements, including suspending the MCAS test.
It ensures that if a senior is required to pass the MCAS to graduate, he or she will be given a time other than this spring to take the exam.
The measure allows school districts who cannot adopt a budget by June 30, 2020 because of the pandemic to approve monthly budgets. It also prohibits a city or town from terminating any resident’s essential services including water, trash collection or electricity; or for nonpayment of taxes or fees if the nonpayment resulted from a demonstrated inability to pay due to circumstances related to the outbreak of COVID-19.