Senate Bill 2615

AN ACT TO CREATE THE FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY IN EDUCATION ACT; TO REQUIRE EACH LOCAL EDUCATION PROVIDER IN THE STATE TO MAINTAIN A SEARCHABLE EXPENDITURE AND REVENUE WEBSITE THAT INCLUDES DETAILED DATA ON ALL MONIES RECEIVED AND EXPENDED IN THE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT; TO REQUIRE EACH LOCAL EDUCATION PROVIDER TO MAINTAIN THE DATA IN AN EASILY ACCESSIBLE, SEARCHABLE AND DOWNLOADABLE FORMAT, AND TO POST COMPREHENSIVE FIGURES ON TOTAL EXPENDITURES AND PER-PUPIL SPENDING; TO REQUIRE EACH LOCAL EDUCATION PROVIDER TO SUBMIT THE SUMMARY DATA TO THE STATE TO BE AGGREGATED AND MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Financial Transparency in Education Act."

SECTION 2. (1) The Legislature finds and declares that:

(a) Taxpayers should have easy access to the details of public school district spending;

(b) Easier access to and storage of electronic data would increase transparency in public school financial matters; and

(2) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to direct all local education providers to create and maintain a searchable expenditure and revenue website database detailing financial activities.

SECTION 3. As used in this act, the following words and phrases have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(a) "Entity" means a corporation, association, union, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, grantee, contractor, local government, other legal entity, including a nonprofit corporation, or an employee of the local education provider. The term "entity" shall not include an individual recipient of public assistance.

(b) "Local education provider" means:

(i) A school district organized and existing pursuant to law;

(ii) A board of cooperative services or intermediate school district;

(iii) A publicly funded agency established by the state for the express purpose of authorizing charter schools; or

(iv) A public charter school authorized under Chapter 28, Title 37, Mississippi Code of 1972.

(c) "Public record" shall have the same meaning as set forth in Section 25—61—3 of the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983.

SECTION 4. (1) No later than July 1, 2018, each local education provider shall develop, maintain and make publicly available, a single, searchable expenditure and revenue website database that allows the public, at no cost, to review information concerning monies received, whether by appropriation, grant, devise or gift, distribution, donation or collection, and expended by the local education provider. The expenditure and expenditure website database may be provided as a link to the State Department of Education annual report which displays the appropriate information.

(2) (a) For each fiscal year, using budgeted numbers no more than one (1) week following the adoption of the budget for the most recent fiscal year, and actual audited spending figures no more than one (1) week after official figures have been accepted, concerning all expenditures made by the local education provider, the website shall include the following data:

(i) A comprehensive total for all monies expended directly by the local education provider and any subsidiary under its direction, as well as all expenditures made on behalf or for the benefit of the local education provider or any subsidiary by any governmental or nongovernmental entity;

(ii) A total for all monies expended on adult education programs, not including expenses for GED or other alternative high school equivalency diploma programs;

(iii) A total for all monies expended on community services, which are defined as expenditures used exclusively for purposes other than K-12 education;

(iv) A total for all monies expended on preschool and early childhood education services, defined as all services provided to children younger than the compulsory school age for enrollment in kindergarten;

(v) The name and principal location or address of the entity receiving monies, except that information concerning a payment to an employee of the local education provider shall identify the individual employee by name and business address or location only;

(vi) The amount of expended monies;

(vii) The funding source(s) of the expended monies;

(viii) The date of the expenditure;

(ix) The name of the budget program, activity or category supporting the expenditure;

(x) A description of the purpose for the expenditure;

(xi) An unique identifier for each expenditure on adult education as described in subparagraph (ii) and community services in subparagraph (iii) of this subsection, and for all other expenditures to the extent possible;

(xii) Copies of all credit card statements, identified by the department responsible for each credit card; and

(xiii) The database shall include and retain both the budgeted and audited actual expenditure figures for each fiscal year and ensure that each set of figures can be identified as budgeted or audited figures.

(b) The expenditure data shall be provided in an open structured data format that:

(i) May be downloaded by the user; and

(ii) Allows the user to systematically sort, search and access all data.

(c) The website shall contain only information that is a public record or that is not confidential or otherwise protected from public disclosure pursuant to state or federal law.

(3) The local education provider shall:

(a) Update the financial data contained on the website at least monthly;

(b) Archive the financial data, which shall remain accessible and searchable on the website;

(c) Post total expenditures as defined in subsection (2)(a)(i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) on the home page of the local education provider's website no more than one (1) week after the official budget is adopted for the most recent fiscal year and no more than one (1) week after the final audited and actual expenditure figures are produced. In the same section of the website, the local education provider shall post both the estimated and the audited actual average daily attendance figures for Grades K—12 for the most recent fiscal year budget and for pre—K, if applicable;

(d) Post the per-pupil spending figures using both the budgeted and audited figures described in subsection (2)(a)(i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), as derived from the following formula: Total expenditures minus adult education expenditures minus community services expenditures minus preschool services in those districts providing such services divided by the districts K—12 average daily attendance;

(e) Design the website to be easily accessible from the homepage of the local education provider's website. The expenditure and expenditure website database may be provided as a link to the State Department of Education annual report which displays the appropriate information; and

(f) Create and make accessible an automated Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed, also referred to as Really Simple Syndication, to which users of the website's database may subscribe for notification of updates to the website's database.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2018.