Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 71, § 48 (2026)

Textbooks and school supplies

✓ current as of July 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MAmalegislature.gov (official) JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Section 48. The principal at each school, subject to the direction of the superintendent, shall, at the expense of the school district, purchase textbooks and other school supplies, and consistent with the district policy, shall loan them to the pupils attending such school free of charge. If instruction is given in the manual and domestic arts, the principal may so purchase and loan the necessary tools, implements and materials. The principal shall also, at like expense, procure such apparatus, reference books and other means of illustration, as may be needed. Said purchases shall be made in accordance with chapter thirty B and within the purchasing guidelines adopted by the municipality where such purchases are made if such guidelines exist.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 8 cases, 1928–2008 · leading case: Bloom v. Sch. Comm. of Springfield, 379 N.E.2d 578 (Mass. 1978).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Bloom v. Sch. Comm. of Springfield, 379 N.E.2d 578 (Mass. 1978). · cites it 5× “40, § 53) sued the local school committee in the Superior Court for Hampden County seeking a declaration and eventual injunctive relief that would prevent the committee from expending money for textbooks under the second paragraph of G. L. c. 71, § 48, which they claimed to be…”

Parker v. Town of Lexington, 514 F.3d 87 (1st Cir. 2008). “Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 71, § 48 . We assume these books were chosen locally subject to the terms of that statute.”

Right to Read Def. Comm. v. Sch. Comm., 454 F. Supp. 703 (D. Mass. 1978). · cites it 3× “The Committee is a seven member body that has statutory authority for administering the Chelsea public school system, Mass.Gen.Laws ch. 71, § 37 and Mass.Gen.Laws ch.”

Parkhurst v. City of Revere, 161 N.E. 599 (Mass. 1928). · cites it 2× “G. L. c. 71, § 48, provides in part that “The [school] committee shall, at the expense of the town [town includes city, G.”

Sch. Comm. v. City of Gloucester, 85 N.E.2d 429 (Mass. 1949). “The opinion quoted from G. L. c. 71, § 48, and said at page 370, “the provisions of G.”

Haddad v. Sch. Comm. of Worcester, 379 N.E.2d 586 (Mass. 1978). “Pur *52 suant to the second paragraph of G. L. c. 71, § 48, the plaintiff requested of the defendant school committee of Worcester the free loan of textbooks for the 1974-1975 school year.”

Brine v. City of Cambridge, 265 Mass. 452 (Mass. 1929). · cites it 3× “The only authority given the committee to purchase articles to be loaned is contained in G. L. c. 71, § 48, which provides that “The committee shall, at the expense of the town, purchase textbooks and other school supplies, and, under such regulations as to their care and…”

Wright & Ditson v. City of Boston, 170 N.E. 72 (Mass. 1930). “The language of the enabling statute involved, while varying somewhat, does not differ in substance from that contained in G. L. c. 71, § 48, conferring similar powers upon school committees of other cities.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.