House Bill 1392

AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION, IN CONSULTATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION BUREAU OF BUILDING, GROUNDS AND REAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, TO ESTABLISH PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITY CONSTRUCTION GUIDELINES FOR USE BY THE LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS; TO REQUIRE THE BOARD AND THE BUREAU TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONDUCTING A SCHOOL FACILITIES' INFRASTRUCTURE AUDIT AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PRIORITY ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT NEEDS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE GUIDELINES SHALL IDENTIFY AND DESCRIBE THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT, RENOVATION AND EQUIPMENT NEEDS IN PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES USING A PRESCRIBED SET OF MINIMUM CONSIDERATIONS AS STIPULATED BY THE BOARD AND BUREAU; TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD, OR THE BUREAU UPON THE BOARD'S REQUEST, TO ESTABLISH A DATABASE TO STORE THE DATA COLLECTED THROUGH THE SCHOOL FACILITIES' INFRASTRUCTURE AUDIT AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PRIORITY ASSESSMENT, WHICH SHALL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) (a) The State Board of Education, in consultation with the Department of Finance and Administration Bureau of Building, Grounds and Real Property Management, shall establish public school facility construction guidelines for use by the local school boards in assessing and prioritizing public school capital improvement needs throughout the state as required by Section 2 of this act. The board shall establish the guidelines in rules promulgated in accordance with Chapter 2, Title 17, Mississippi Code of 1972.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the public school facility construction guidelines established by the board and the bureau be used only for the purposes specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection (1).

(2) The public school facility construction guidelines shall identify and describe the capital improvement, renovation and equipment needs in public school facilities and means of addressing those needs that will provide educational and safety benefits at a reasonable cost. In preparing the guidelines, the board and the bureau shall address the following considerations:

(a) Health and safety issues, including security needs and all applicable building, health, safety and environmental codes and standards required by state and federal law;

(b) Technology, including but not limited to telecommunications and internet connectivity technology, technology for individual student learning and classroom instruction, and technology, which includes hardware, devices or equipment necessary for individual student learning and classroom instruction, including access to electronic instructional materials, or necessary for professional use by a classroom teacher;

(d) Building performance standards and guidelines, including but not limited to green building and energy efficiency criteria;

(e) Functionality of existing and planned public school facilities for core educational programs, particularly those educational programs for which the State Board of Education has adopted statewide curriculum content standards;

(f) Capacity of existing and planned public school facilities, taking into consideration potential expansion of services for the benefit of students, such as full-day kindergarten and school-based health services;

(g) Public school facility accessibility; and

(h) The historic significance of existing public school facilities and the potential to meet current programming needs by rehabilitating such facilities.

(3) The board and the bureau shall apply the public school facility construction guidelines in conducting the financial assistance priority assessment required by Section 2 of this act.

SECTION 2. (1) (a) As soon as possible following the establishment of the public school facility construction guidelines pursuant to Section 1 of this act, the State Board of Education and Department of Finance and Administration Bureau of Building, Grounds and Real Property Management, shall enter into an agreement with the Mississippi State University School of Architecture, for the purpose of conducting a school facilities' infrastructure audit and financial assistance priority assessment of public school facilities throughout the state as provided in this section. The board and the bureau shall order payment of the costs incurred by the Mississippi State University School of Architecture for the school facilities' infrastructure audit and financial assistance priority assessment from any available funds appropriate to the respective agencies for such purposes.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the school facilities' infrastructure audit and financial assistance priority assessment required by this section be used only for the purposes specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection and Section 1(1)(a) of this act.

(2) (a) The school facilities' infrastructure audit and financial assistance priority assessment shall assess public school facility capital improvement project needs based on:

(i) The condition of the public school facility;

(ii) Air and water quality in the public school facility;

(iii) Public school facility space requirements;

(iv) The ability to accommodate educational technology, including but not limited to technology for individual student learning and classroom instruction;

(v) Site requirements for the public school facility;

(vi) Public school facility demographics, including a five-year projection concerning anticipated substantial changes in the pupil count of individual public school facilities; and

(vii) Annualized utility costs, including electricity, natural gas, propane, water, sewer, waste removal, telecommunications, Internet or other monthly-cycled utility services.

(b) The school facilities' infrastructure audit and financial assistance priority assessment shall include five-year projections regarding the issues described in paragraph (a) of this subsection (2).

(c) The board, or the bureau upon the board's request, shall establish a database to store the data collected through the school facilities' infrastructure audit and financial assistance priority assessment conducted pursuant to this section. The board or the bureau shall make the data collected available to the public in a form that is easily accessible and complies with any federal or state laws or regulations concerning privacy.

(3) The Mississippi State University School of Architecture shall use the public school facility construction guidelines established pursuant to Section 1 of this act in conducting the school facilities' infrastructure audit and financial assistance priority assessment described in this section.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2020.