2019 Senate Education Bill Summaries

The summaries attempt to highlight major components of each bill. Click on the bill number to read the bill in its entirety and to view the latest action.

SB 2092 – Natchez-Adams Special Municipal Separate School District elect members of school board.

• To require the board of trustees of the Natchez-Adams Special Municipal Separate School District to be elected
• To provide that the new Natchez-Adams County School Board shall be elected from districts that are the same as the board of Supervisors districts
• To provide that the election for the school board shall be a nonpartisan election
• To prescribe the procedures to be used if a vacancy occurs on the school board
• To provide that the candidate with the highest number of votes shall be declared elected
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.

SB 2050 – School enrollment; allow for children with documentation of a parent’s pending military relocation to the state.

• Require school districts to accept an application for enrollment and course registration by electronic means for any pupil whose parent is transferred to, or is pending transfer to, a military installation within this state while on active military duty pursuant to an official military order
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.

SB 2447 – Career and technical grants to schools for qualified students provide for.

• To provide career and technical education grants through the State Board of Education and the state Workforce Investment Board (SWIB) To schools for each student who earns a qualifying industry certification
• Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year and subject to available funding the MDE shall pay a career and technical education incentive grant to the public school
• The amount of the incentive per student shall be $600. If the statewide sum of grants awarded exceeds the amount of available funding, the grants per students shall be reduced proportionately to cover all eligible grants
• Grants can be used for qualifying industry certification exam fees, professional development for teachers in career and technical education programs, instructional support for programs that lead to qualifying industry certification
• Grants may not be used to supplant funds provided for the basic operation of the CTE programs
• On or before July 1 of each year, MDE shall submit a report to the Governor, Lt. Governor, the Speaker, Ed Chairs and chairs of the Workforce Development Committee and Senate Labor Committee 
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.

SB 2449 – Education of students in juvenile detention facilities; define responsibility of home school district.

• Provides for students attending a sponsoring school district detention center will have the same academic calendar as the district
• To define the responsibility of the home school district and the sponsoring school district to provide education for students in juvenile detention facilities
• To require local school districts to provide relevant records of detained students in accordance with State Board of Education policy
• To provide for a required six-week summer enrichment program for such students focusing on Mathematics and Language Arts
• To authorize the State Department of Education to promulgate rules and regulations related to the education of children housed in a juvenile detention facility
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.

SB 2481 – Teacher shortage in Mississippi; establish Teacher Leadership Program and Teacher Credentialing and Retention Grant Program.

• To establish a Mississippi Teacher Leadership Program within the State Department of Education to retain effective classroom teachers
• To establish the Mississippi Classified School Employee Teacher Credentialing and Retention Grant program within the State Department of Education and provide that any teacher education program in the state of Mississippi may apply for participation in the grant program and for related purposes.
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.

SB 2482 – Teacher and administrator licenses; clarify grounds for disciplinary action and reinstatement.

• To clarify the membership of the Commission on Teacher and Administrator Education, Certification and Licensure and Development
• To revise the requirements for teacher candidates to enter the standard license approved program route and nontraditional teaching route,
• To revise certain components of the Teach Mississippi institute (TMI),
• To clarify procedures for appeal of educator licensure decisions by the commission or its hearing officer,
• To revise the grounds for denial of educator licensure applications and to provide authority for licensure probation,
• To clarify grounds for educator licensure suspension or revocation and to clarify procedures for educator licensure reinstatement following suspension
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

SB 2505 – Teacher Forgivable Loan Program; available to nontraditional licensed teachers under certain conditions.

• To provide that awards granted under the William Winter Teacher Forgivable Loan Program shall be available to nontraditional licensed teachers under certain conditions
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.

SB 2625 – Mississippi School of the Arts provide for administration and clarify employee hiring procedures.

• An act relating to the operation of the Mississippi School of the Arts (MSA)
• To provide that administrative and instructional employees at the Mississippi School of the Arts shall be contract employees and to provide for the execution of said contracts
• To provide that the noninstructional employees at said school shall serve at the will and pleasure of the superintendent of the MSA
• To provide that the purchases of equipment and commodities made by the MSA are exempt from the regulations of the public procurement law
• To provide that the Mississippi School of the Arts, the Mississippi School for the Blind and Deaf and the Mississippi School for Math and Science shall be subject to any mid-year budget reductions by the Department of Finance and Administration only to the same extent as applicable to other school districts in the state
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.

SB 2675 – Education Scholarship Account (ESA) program; revise.

• To amend the “Equal Opportunity for Mississippi Students with Special Needs Act” providing Education Scholarship Account (ESA) funds for eligible students
• To establish the Office of Educational Opportunity within the State Department of Education to administer the ESA program,
• To clarify parental obligations to qualify eligible students for the program
• To clarify the authorized use of education scholarship funds
• To prescribe certain norm-referenced tests for participating students
• To revise the limitations on eligible student participation in the program, to clarify ESA funding amounts for participating students
• To clarify procedures for student applications for the program
• To create the special ESA fund in the state treasury
• To revise limits on administrative costs
• To clarify reporting requirements by participating service providers, and to provide that program rules are subject to the requirements of the Mississippi Administrative Procedures Act
• To conform to the provisions of the Compulsory School Attendance Law
• To include Education Scholarship Account (ESA) programs as “add-on programs” funded under the Mississippi Adequate Education Program and to provide for the distribution from the MAEP fund to the special ESA fund
• To delete the automatic repealer on The Education Scholarship Account (ESA) program
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage

SB 2685 – Comprehensive eye examination for students prior to enrollment require.

• To require a comprehensive eye examination for all students prior to entering or enrolling for the first time in a public school
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.

SB 2770 – Teachers’ salaries provide for $1,500.00 increase and increase the minimum annual salary for Teacher Assistants

• To revise the minimum teacher salary scale by increasing the minimum salary by $1,500.00 per year phased in over two school years
• To increase the minimum annual salary for teacher assistants by $1,500 per year
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.

SB 2787 – Sixteenth section school land; limit rent increases on residential and farm-residential land.

• To require an appraisal of sixteenth section lands every five years
• To establish a sixteenth section land complaint tribunal to hear objections to the classification of sixteenth section lands
• To authorize the local school board to charge the leaseholder for the cost of the first appraisal only
• to provide that the annual rental for sixteenth section school land classified as residential or farm-residential shall not be increased to an amount exceeding the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) compounded each year for a five-year term
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.

SB 2802– Airport Authorities Law; revise definition of airport to exclude buffer areas and areas for airport compatible development.

• To revise the definition of the term “airport” as used in the Airport Authorities law to exclude buffer areas and areas for airport compatible development
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

SB 2866 – Districts of Innovation; require SDE to recognize use of Cambridge Assessment for purposes of accountability rating.

• To require the State Department of Education to acknowledge student performance in schools within Districts of Innovation that administer the Cambridge Assessment or other nationally recognized assessment to determine student proficiency for the purpose of assigning school and district accountability ratings
• To require the Department to develop a procedure for the acceptance of the Cambridge Assessment or other nationally recognized assessments used by school within districts of innovation in lieu of the map assessments and subject area testing program
• To require the department to assign accountability designations to schools within Districts of Innovation based upon student performance on the selected nationally recognized assessment administered by the school, in comparison to the student performance cut scores used for each accountability designation on the statewide assessment system
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage

SB 2928 – Energy High School Academy; authorize Vicksburg-Warren and Claiborne school districts to enter into partnership.

• To establish a partnership with the energy industry located within the State of Mississippi, Warren County and the Mississippi Development Authority for an Energy High School Academy
• To prescribe the membership of the Energy High School Academy Partnership Council to administer the academy
• To provide that the academy model shall provide qualified students from eighth grade through high school with career exploration and potential internships within the energy industry located within the State of Mississippi
• To provide criteria for the Energy High School Academy
• To authorize the use of buildings, teachers and transportation funding for the operation of the academy to be provided on a phased-in basis
• To establish an Energy Academy Fund for start-up and operational costs administered by the Mississippi Development Authority consisting of public and private funds
• This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019 and shall stand repealed from and after July 1, 2022. (Due from the Governor 4.20.19)