Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XII Chapter 72
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 72, § 2 (2026)

Registration of children; reports

✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MAmalegislature.gov (official) JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Section 2. The school committee of each town shall ascertain and record the names, ages and such other information as may be required by the department of education, of all minors residing therein between five and sixteen, and of all minors over sixteen who do not meet the requirements for the completion of the sixth grade of the public schools of the town where he resides. The school committee of each town shall also ascertain the number of pupils, regardless of age, whose parents or guardians are residents of the town and who are enrolled for full-time attendance, in kindergarten and grades up to and including grade twelve, in public and vocational schools and classes in the commonwealth and nonpublic schools anywhere. Whoever, in control of any such minor, withholds information sought by a school committee or its agents under this section or makes a false statement relative thereto, shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars. Supervisors of attendance, under the direction of the committee and superintendent of schools, shall have charge of the records required by this section, shall be responsible for their completeness and accuracy, and shall receive the co-operation of principals, teachers and supervisory officers in the discharge of their duties hereunder. A card, as prescribed by the department, shall be kept for every child whose name is recorded hereunder. Supervisors of attendance shall compare the names of children enrolled in the public and private schools with the names of those recorded as required herein, and examine carefully into all cases where children of school age are not enrolled in, and attending school, as required by section one of chapter seventy-six.

The annual school committee report shall set forth the number of children recorded as herein required, classified by ages, together with the number attending public or private schools, and the number not attending school, in any given year.

The supervisory officers of all private schools shall, within thirty days after the enrollment or registration of any child of compulsory school age, report his name, age and residence to the superintendent of schools of the town where the child resides; and whenever a child withdraws from a private school, such officers shall, within ten days, notify said superintendent.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1982–2002 · leading case: Attorney Gen. v. Bailey, 436 N.E.2d 139 (Mass. 1982).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Attorney Gen. v. Bailey, 436 N.E.2d 139 (Mass. 1982). · cites it 48× “We granted the plaintiffs’ application for direct appellate review to resolve two narrow questions: whether G. L. c. 72, § 2, requires nonapproved private schools, run under religious auspices, to report the names, ages, and residences of the children in attendance; and, if so,…”
City of Worcester v. Labor Relations Comm'n, 438 Mass. 177 (Mass. 2002). “G. L. c. 72, §§ 2, 8. They must “inquire into” cases involving discrimination in admission to public school (G.”
City of Worcester v. Labor Relations Comm'n, 756 N.E.2d 1220 (Mass. App. Ct. 2001). · cites it 2× “In addition, § 20 requires supervisors of attendance to “inquire into all cases arising under” G. L. c. 72, §§ 2, 8 (dealing with school eligibility and attendance records); G.”
Commonwealth v. Sch. Comm. of the Blackstone Valley Vocational Reg'l Sch. Dist., 432 N.E.2d 726 (Mass. App. Ct. 1982). “The Department, contrary to the trial judge’s determination “that ‘enrollment’ in a school is an annual event,” contends that enrollment, once established, at least for purposes of special education programs (G. L. c. 71B), is a “continuing” relationship between the school and…”
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.