House Bill 617

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-15-6, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO DEVELOP A CENTRAL REPORTING SYSTEM TO BE USED BY SCHOOL DISTRICTS FOR THE MANDATORY REPORTING OF ALL DATA REQUIRED BY FEDERAL LAW TO BE REPORTED TO THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS; TO REQUIRE THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO PUBLISH THE DATA ON ITS WEBSITE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 37-15-6, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-15-6. (1) For the purpose of providing notice to public and private school officials, both within and outside the boundaries of the state, of the expulsion of any public school student, the State Department of Education may develop a central reporting system for maintaining information concerning each expulsion from a public school. In establishing and maintaining the reporting system, the department may require each school district and charter school to report, within a certain period of time after an expulsion, as established by the department, information such as the following:

(a) The name of the student expelled;

(b) The date the student was expelled;

(d) The school from which the student was expelled;

(e) The reason for the expulsion, including a detailed description of the student's act or acts;

(f) The duration of the period of expulsion, if not indefinite; and

(g) Any other information that the department deems necessary for school officials in a public or private school, where a student is seeking enrollment, to determine whether or not a student should be denied enrollment based upon a previous expulsion.

Any information maintained by the department under the authority of this section shall be strictly confidential. The information shall be available to school officials at a public or private school only upon their request and only when a student seeks enrollment or admission to that school. In no case shall the information be available to the general public.

(2) The State Department of Education shall develop a central reporting system for maintaining all data required by federal law to be reported to the United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, through the Civil Rights Data Collection. In establishing and maintaining the state reporting system, the department shall require each school district and charter school to report, no later than the final date of each Civil Rights Data Collection, all information that is required to be reported in the Civil Rights Data Collection. The department shall publish this information in a publicly accessible format on its website no later than thirty (30) days after the deadline for which data is required to be reported under this subsection.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2021.