MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Education

By: Representative Martinson

House Bill 1360

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-9-24, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE FIVE IN-SERVICE TRAINING DAYS TO BE DEVOTED TO RESEARCH-BASED READING INSTRUCTION FOR CERTAIN TEACHERS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 37-9-24, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-9-24. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, * * * no school district shall contract with any certificated personnel for less than one hundred eighty-seven (187) employment days.

Beginning with the 1997-1998 school year, each school district shall require five (5) of the employment days, for K-3 teachers, to be used for in-service training devoted to research-based reading instruction. Such reading instruction shall include explicit training in the speech sounds of the language, how to identify those sounds in words and how to develop this specific skill in children through direct, systematic teaching.

(2) Certificated personnel may be employed for less than a full school year if the contract states the exact period of time for which the certificated person is to be employed.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1997.