MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2020 Regular Session
To: Appropriations
By: Representatives Read, Foster
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-61-33, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DELETE THE REQUIREMENT TO DEPOSIT INTO THE WORKING CASH-STABILIZATION RESERVE FUND A CERTAIN SUM FROM THE MONEY REMAINING IN THE EDUCATION ENHANCEMENT FUND AFTER FUNDS ARE DISTRIBUTED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES; TO AMEND SECTION 41-113-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT ANY FUNDS APPROPRIATED FROM THE TOBACCO CONTROL PROGRAM FUND THAT ARE UNEXPENDED AT THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR SHALL LAPSE INTO THE HEALTH CARE EXPENDABLE FUND; TO PROVIDE FOR CERTAIN TRANSFERS TO THE CAPITAL EXPENSE FUND DURING FISCAL YEAR 2020; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 37-61-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-61-33. (1) There is created within the State Treasury a special fund to be designated the "Education Enhancement Fund" into which shall be deposited all the revenues collected pursuant to Sections 27-65-75(7) and (8) and 27-67-31(a) and (b).
(2) Of the amount deposited into the Education Enhancement Fund, Sixteen Million Dollars ($16,000,000.00) shall be appropriated each fiscal year to the State Department of Education to be distributed to all school districts. Such money shall be distributed to all school districts in the proportion that the average daily attendance of each school district bears to the average daily attendance of all school districts within the state for the following purposes:
(a) Purchasing, erecting, repairing, equipping, remodeling and enlarging school buildings and related facilities, including gymnasiums, auditoriums, lunchrooms, vocational training buildings, libraries, teachers' homes, school barns, transportation vehicles (which shall include new and used transportation vehicles) and garages for transportation vehicles, and purchasing land therefor.
(b) Establishing and equipping school athletic fields and necessary facilities connected therewith, and purchasing land therefor.
(c) Providing necessary water, light, heating, air-conditioning and sewerage facilities for school buildings, and purchasing land therefor.
(d) As a pledge to pay all or a portion of the debt service on debt issued by the school district under Sections 37-59-1 through 37-59-45, 37-59-101 through 37-59-115, 37-7-351 through 37-7-359, 37-41-89 through 37-41-99, 37-7-301, 37-7-302 and 37-41-81, or debt issued by boards of supervisors for agricultural high schools pursuant to Section 37-27-65, if such pledge is accomplished pursuant to a written contract or resolution approved and spread upon the minutes of an official meeting of the district's school board or board of supervisors. The annual grant to such district in any subsequent year during the term of the resolution or contract shall not be reduced below an amount equal to the district's grant amount for the year in which the contract or resolution was adopted. The intent of this provision is to allow school districts to irrevocably pledge a certain, constant stream of revenue as security for long-term obligations issued under the code sections enumerated in this paragraph or as otherwise allowed by law. It is the intent of the Legislature that the provisions of this paragraph shall be cumulative and supplemental to any existing funding programs or other authority conferred upon school districts or school boards. Debt of a district secured by a pledge of sales tax revenue pursuant to this paragraph shall not be subject to any debt limitation contained in the foregoing enumerated code sections.
(3) The remainder of the money deposited into the Education Enhancement Fund shall be appropriated as follows:
(a) To the State Department of Education as follows:
(i) Sixteen and sixty-one one-hundredths percent (16.61%) to the cost of the adequate education program determined under Section 37-151-7; of the funds generated by the percentage set forth in this section for the support of the adequate education program, one and one hundred seventy-eight one-thousandths percent (1.178%) of the funds shall be appropriated to be used by the State Department of Education for the purchase of textbooks to be loaned under Sections 37-43-1 through 37-43-59 to approved nonpublic schools, as described in Section 37-43-1. The funds to be distributed to each nonpublic school shall be in the proportion that the average daily attendance of each nonpublic school bears to the total average daily attendance of all nonpublic schools;
(ii) Seven and ninety-seven one-hundredths percent (7.97%) to assist the funding of transportation operations and maintenance pursuant to Section 37-19-23; and
(iii) Nine and sixty-one one-hundredths percent (9.61%) for classroom supplies, instructional materials and equipment, including computers and computer software, to be distributed to all eligible teachers within the state through the use of procurement cards. Classroom supply funds shall not be expended for administrative purposes. On or before September 1 of each year, local school districts shall determine and submit to the State Department of Education the number of teachers eligible to receive an allocation for the current year. For purposes of this subparagraph, "teacher" means any employee of the school board of a school district, or the Mississippi School for the Arts, the Mississippi School for Math and Science, the Mississippi School for the Blind or the Mississippi School for the Deaf, who is required by law to obtain a teacher's license from the State Department of Education and who is assigned to an instructional area of work as defined by the department, but shall not include a federally funded teacher. It is the intent of the Legislature that all classroom teachers shall utilize these funds in a manner that addresses individual classroom needs and supports the overall goals of the school regarding supplies, instructional materials, equipment, computers or computer software under the provisions of this subparagraph, including the type, quantity and quality of such supplies, materials and equipment. Classroom supply funds allocated under this subparagraph shall supplement, not replace, other local and state funds available for the same purposes. The State Board of Education shall develop and promulgate rules and regulations for the administration of this subparagraph consistent with the above criteria, with particular emphasis on allowing the individual teachers to expend funds as they deem appropriate. Effective with the 2013-2014 school year, the local school board shall require each school to issue procurement cards provided by the Department of Finance and Administration under the provisions of Section 31-7-9(1)(c) for the use of teachers and necessary support personnel in making instructional supply fund expenditures under this section, consistent with the regulations of the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration pursuant to Section 31-7-9. Such procurement cards shall be issued at the beginning of the school year and shall be issued in equal amounts per teacher determined by the total number of qualifying personnel and the current state appropriation for classroom supplies with the Education Enhancement Fund. Such cards will expire on a pre-determined date at the end of each school year. All unexpended amounts will be carried forward, combined with the following year's allocation of Education Enhancement Fund instructional supplies funds and reallocated for the following year;
(b) Twenty-two and nine one-hundredths percent (22.09%) to the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning for the purpose of supporting institutions of higher learning; and
(c) Fourteen and forty-one one-hundredths percent (14.41%) to the Mississippi Community College Board for the purpose of providing support to community and junior colleges.
(4) The amount remaining in
the Education Enhancement Fund after funds are distributed as provided in
subsections (2) and (3) of this section shall be * * *
appropriated for other educational needs.
(5) None of the funds appropriated pursuant to subsection (3)(a) of this section shall be used to reduce the state's General Fund appropriation for the categories listed in an amount below the following amounts:
(a) For subsection (3)(a)(ii) of this section, Thirty-six Million Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($36,700,000.00);
(b) For the aggregate of minimum program allotments in the 1997 fiscal year, formerly provided for in Chapter 19, Title 37, Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, excluding those funds for transportation as provided for in paragraph (a) of this subsection.
(6) Any funds appropriated from the Education Enhancement Fund that are unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall lapse into the Education Enhancement Fund, except as otherwise provided in subsection (3)(a)(iii) of this section.
SECTION 2. Section 41-113-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-113-11. (1) There is established in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the Tobacco Control Program Fund, which shall be comprised of the funds specified in subsection (2) of this section and any other funds that are authorized or required to be deposited into the special fund.
(2) From the tobacco settlement installment payments that the State of Mississippi receives during each calendar year, the sum of Twenty Million Dollars ($20,000,000.00) shall be deposited into the special fund.
(3) Monies in the fund shall be expended solely for the purposes specified in this chapter. None of the funds in the special fund may be transferred to any other fund or appropriated or expended for any other purpose.
(4) All income from the
investment of the funds in the Tobacco Control Program Fund shall be credited
to the account of the Tobacco Control Program Fund. Any funds in the Tobacco
Control Program Fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State
General Fund. Any funds appropriated from the Tobacco Control Program Fund
that are unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall lapse into the Tobacco
Control Program Fund * * *.
However, beginning with fiscal year 2020, any funds appropriated from
the Tobacco Control Program Fund that are unexpended at the end of the
fiscal year * * *
shall lapse into the Health Care Expendable Fund.
SECTION 3. During fiscal year 2020, the State Fiscal
Officer shall transfer the sum of Fifty-five Million Dollars ($55,000,000.00) from the Working Cash-Stabilzation Reserve Fund (Fund Number 3399200000) to the Capital Expense Fund (Fund Number 6499C00000).
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.