MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2022 Regular Session

To: Education

By: Representative Roberson

House Bill 795

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-161-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CREATE THE EQUAL ACCESS TO EDUCATION ACT AND TO MAKE SUBSTANTIAL REVISIONS TO THE MISSISSIPPI VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAM; TO REPLACE CERTAIN FINDINGS MADE BY THE LEGISLATURE IN THE ORIGINAL 2006 ENACTMENT OF THE VIRTUAL SCHOOL PROGRAM WITH ADDITIONAL FINDINGS; TO DECLARE THE LEGISLATIVE INTENT TO ENSURE THAT MISSISSIPPI'S DIGITAL LEARNING STRATEGY SATISFIES CERTAIN VALUES; TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS; TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH A DIGITAL LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM PILOT PROGRAM AND THE VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOL PILOT PROGRAM; TO ESTABLISH ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE PILOT PROGRAMS; TO REQUIRE SPONSORS OF A PILOT VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOL TO ADOPT ENROLLMENT POLICIES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

     SECTION 1.  Section 37-161-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     37-161-3.  (1)  This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Equal Access to Education Act."

     ( * * *12)  The Legislature finds and declares the following:

          (a)  Meeting the educational needs of children in our state * * *'s schools is of the greatest importance to the future welfare of the State of Mississippi;

          (b)  Every child in Mississippi deserves equal access to a quality education, including any course necessary in the preparation of that child to be a productive, contributing citizen.  Children should not be deprived access to a licensed teacher, course or qualified instruction in a subject necessary to their development by virtue of where they live;

          (c)  At various times in Mississippi history, including the time this statute initially was enacted, shortages of licensed teachers in certain schools, grade levels and subjects have resulted in some children not having equal access to a licensed teacher, course or qualified instruction;

          (d)  In 2006, this Legislature enacted this statute in an effort to address how evolving technology could be used to help ensure students had equal access to quality education.  In creating the Mississippi Virtual Public School Program under the supervision of the State Department of Education, this statute indicated that it was the intent of the Legislature that the Mississippi Virtual Public School established under this section provide Mississippi families with an alternative choice to access additional educational resources in an effort to improve academic achievement.  The statute provided further that private providers, overseen by the State Department of Education, may be selected by the State Board of Education to administer, manage or operate virtual school programs in this state, including the total operation of the Mississippi Virtual Public School Program.  Additionally, the Legislature found and declared in this statute that:

               ( * * *bi)  Closing the achievement gap between high-performing students, including the achievement gap among at-risk students, is a significant and present challenge;

               ( * * *cii)  Providing a broader range of educational options to parents and utilizing existing resources, along with technology, may help students in the state improve their academic achievement; * * * and

               ( * * *diii)  Many of the state's school districts currently lack the capacity to provide other public school choices for students whose schools are low performing * * *.; and

              (iv)  Nothing in this section may be interpreted as precluding the use of computer- and Internet-based instruction for students in a virtual or remote setting utilizing the Mississippi Virtual Public School.

          (e)  Since the time of creation of the Mississippi Virtual Public School, digital learning has become a more integrated component of education strategy across the country, with a number of delivery models and value propositions, including:

              (i)  Aiding schools and school districts that lack licensed teachers in a grade level or subject by ensuring students in the classroom still receive quality instruction that does not create or worsen achievement gaps;

              (ii)  Aiding individual students within a school or school district who wish to take an individual course, including advanced courses, that might not otherwise be offered;

              (iii)  Supplementing classroom learning as a means to close achievement gaps identified with individual students; and

              (iv)  Aiding individual students who might not be able to be successful in a traditional classroom setting, students whose families have elected to provide education from home, or a school or school district that wishes to experiment with extended learning models during calendar periods.

          (f)  The Mississippi Virtual Public School Program has gone through multiple iterations since its creation.  Under State Department of Education regulations in place in 2022, there are three (3) component pieces of Mississippi's digital learning strategy:

              (i)  The Digital Education Network, a distance learning system run by Mississippi Public Broadcasting with the approval of the State Department of Education, which seeks to link licensed teachers in one (1) school with classes of students in other schools or school districts as a means of delivering real-time, or synchronous, instruction;

              (ii)  Blended learning courses in which a school or school district provides a face-to-face Mississippi licensed teacher, which does not require prior approval from the State Department of Education for access to an online program or computer-assisted instruction.  For online programs or computer-assisted instruction in which a school or school district is using for the sole purpose of credit recovery, prior approval from the State Department of Education is not required.  For online dual enrollment courses through a Mississippi community or junior college or state institution of higher learning, prior approval from the State Department of Education is not required; and

              (iii)  Other courses for which, on a course-by-course basis, a school or school district is required to submit an application through the Mississippi Online Course Application process.  Despite clear indications of intent evidenced in this section when originally enacted to create a full-time virtual option that students from across the state could access, Mississippi is one (1) of only twelve (12) states in 2022 to not permit or operate a full-time virtual school that any student may enroll in from across the state.

          (g)  It is the intention of the Legislature to ensure that Mississippi's digital learning strategy, placed under the administration of the State Department of Education, satisfies each of the following value propositions:

              (i)  If the Digital Education Network, or any successor-in-interest created by and/or approved by the State Department of Education, is intended to fill the gap of classrooms led by unlicensed teachers, that it will be built out to include every grade level and core course in which unlicensed teachers are leading classrooms; and that this section may not be read to foreclose the use of established national digital learning providers to fill gaps, to limit the supplied instruction to any single digital learning provider, or to limit supplied instruction to synchronous instruction;

              (ii)  That the State Department of Education will work to streamline the Mississippi Online Course Application process by developing a system to solicit and approve digital learning providers, with a list of approved courses and disapproved courses offered by each vendor which a school or school district may select from to meet their needs versus requiring application on a course-by-course basis by each school or school district;

              (iii)  That the State Department of Education will build or alternatively, solicit and approve one or more digital learning providers to build, a full-time Mississippi Virtual Public School that includes a complete curriculum that includes all courses necessary for any student who enrolls to matriculate to the point of graduation; that the curriculum will be accessible by students in a virtual or remote setting to serve individual students, including, but not limited to, students who might not be able to be successful in a traditional classroom setting or students whose families have elected to provide education from home, or a school or school district that wishes to experiment with extended learning models during a calendar period; and that this section may not be read to foreclose the use of established digital learning providers from across the country, to limit the supplied instruction to any single digital learning provider, or to limit supplied instruction to synchronous instruction; and

              (iv)  That the State Department of Education, schools and school districts within the State of Mississippi will develop systems to inform teachers, parents and students of the tools available to them to ensure adoption of sound digital learning strategies that maximize those tools; and that included in the development of this system will be a strategy to make available to students whose families have elected to provide home-based education, at their election and with no coercion, the Mississippi Virtual Public School and other digital learning tools developed in furtherance of this section.

 * * *(2)  There is created the Mississippi Virtual Public School Program, which is the responsibility of the State Department of Education.  It is the intent of the Legislature that the Mississippi Virtual Public School established under this section provides Mississippi families with an alternative choice to access additional educational resources in an effort to improve academic achievement.  The Mississippi Virtual Public School must be recognized as a public school and provide equitable treatment and resources as are other public schools in the state.  Private providers, overseen by the State Department of Education, may be selected by the State Board of Education to administer, manage or operate virtual school programs in this state, including the total operation of the Mississippi Virtual Public School Program.  Any private provider chosen to provide services under the provisions of this subsection shall be chosen through the Mississippi Online Course Application Process.

(3)  Nothing in this section may be interpreted as precluding the use of computer‑ and Internet‑based instruction for students in a virtual or remote setting utilizing the Mississippi Virtual Public School.

     ( * * *43)  As used in this section, the following words and phrases have the meanings respectively ascribed unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

          (a)  "Digital learning" means the use of technology in a variety of settings and for a variety of purposes and includes blended, online course, hybrid and virtual models and satisfies the value propositions spelled out in subsection (2)(e).

          (b)  "Digital learning provider" means a qualified vendor that offers either synchronous or asynchronous digital learning instruction and which can offer either individual courses, a set of courses or a complete curriculum that would allow a student completing the curriculum to matriculate to the point of graduation.

          (c)  "Blended model" means an instructional method in which digital learning technology is used in the classroom by a teacher as a supplement to classroom instruction.

          (d)  "Online course model" means an instructional method in which digital learning technology is used on a course-by-course basis for individual students who may have specialized needs, including, but not limited to, the need to catch up or the need for an advanced course otherwise not offered within that student's school.

          (e)  "Hybrid model" means an instructional method in which a student spends part of the time in school and part of the time accessing coursework virtually.

          (f)  "Virtual model" means an instructional method in which a student accesses coursework virtually, outside of a school setting.

          (g)  "Synchronous instruction" means instruction that occurs in real time.

          (h)  "Asynchronous instruction" means instruction that may not occur in real time.

          ( * * *ai)  "Mississippi Virtual Public School" means a public school in which the state uses technology in order to deliver instruction to students via the Internet in a virtual or remote setting.

          (j)  "Mississippi digital learning pilot district" means a public school district or charter school that is solicited by the State Department of Education and consents to participate as a pilot district.  The districts identified for a pilot program should include districts that either lack licensed teachers at a grade level or multiple grade levels or which lack licensed teachers in particular subjects.

          (k)  "Pilot virtual public school" means a full-time public school established under this section which uses technology to deliver synchronous and asynchronous instruction to students via the Internet in a virtual or remote setting.

          ( * * *bl)  "Sponsor" means the public school district or regional education service agency that is responsible for the operation of a pilot virtual public school.  The sponsor is responsible for the academic * * *process for progress of each student * * *, including, but not limited to, enrollment, awarding of credit and monitoring progress enrolled in a pilot virtual public school in all aspects of accountability.

     ( * * *54)  (a)  The State Board of Education shall establish the Mississippi Virtual Public School beginning in school year 2006-2007.

          (b)  Subject to appropriation for such purposes, and in furtherance of the original intent of establishing the Mississippi Virtual Public School and the stated intentions of this section, including those intentions expressed in subsection (2)(e), the State Board of Education shall establish the following two (2) pilot programs beginning in 2022-2023 school year:

              (i)  Digital Learning in the Classroom Pilot Program.  No less than two (2) and no more than five (5) school districts must be selected to participate as digital learning pilot districts.  School districts appropriate to participate in this pilot program include those districts lacking licensed teachers at one or more grade levels or lacking licensed teachers within specialized courses that would benefit the student population within that district.  Upon selection and consent to participate by a school district, the State Department of Education shall work with the pilot districts to establish a comprehensive digital learning strategy to fill identified gaps.  The department shall conduct an assessment on how available digital learning tools under the existing framework perform in filling identified gaps.  The assessment should include how other tools or other digital learning providers might better meet the needs of the pilot districts.  After the department completes the pilot program and its assessment during the 2022-2023 school year, it shall work to improve, scale and implement the program in other school districts with an initial focus on those districts or public charter schools that suffer from the same identified needs as the initial pilot districts.  The department shall make direct recommendations to the Legislature on restructuring the scale of the pilot program to maximize its impact.

              (ii)  Virtual Public School Pilot Program.  A total of three (3) slots must be made available for a sponsor to voluntarily establish a pilot virtual public school in the 2022-2023 school year or any subsequent year until the three (3) slots are filled.  A potential sponsor must notify the State Department of Education of its intent to establish a pilot virtual public school, and the department shall notify the potential sponsor whether or not pilot slots are available.  Any district or regional education service agency that receives notification from the department that a slot to participate in the pilot program is available must establish a virtual public school no later than eighteen (18) months after the date the notification is received or else the slot will be considered available.  If a sponsor establishes a virtual public school but fails to enroll students within its first year of the program, the sponsor loses its authorization to operate in the following school year, and another sponsor must be allowed to create a virtual public school.  The sponsor of a virtual public school pilot program must ensure that each student is provided access to the necessary technology, such as a computer and printer, and to an Internet connection, if not otherwise available, for school work purposes and any applicable special education services.

     The creation of the two pilot programs provided for in this paragraph may not be deemed to absolve the State Department of Education of the responsibility of beginning to act upon the intentions expressed in subsection (2)(e), including the responsibility to begin streamlining the Mississippi Online Course Application process to reduce the administrative burden and expand options available to schools and districts.

          ( * * *bc)  Students who enroll in the Mississippi Virtual Public School may reside anywhere in the State of Mississippi.

     ( * * *65)  Subject to appropriation, the Mississippi Virtual Public School shall provide to each student enrolled in the school all necessary instructional materials.  Subject to appropriation, * * *the a sponsored school must ensure that each student is provided access to the necessary technology, such as a computer and printer, and to an Internet connection, if not otherwise available, for schoolwork purposes.

     ( * * *76)  The * * *Mississippi State Department of Education shall have approval authority for all * * *coursework digital learning providers, courses offered by those providers, and policy of the Mississippi Virtual Public School except as otherwise specifically provided in this section.

     ( * * *87)  Each teacher employed by or participating in the delivery of instruction through the Mississippi Virtual Public School or a pilot virtual public school must meet all qualifications for licensure in the State of Mississippi.

     ( * * *98)  Any student who meets state residency requirements may enroll in the Mississippi Virtual Public School or a pilot virtual public school.

     ( * * *109)  Enrollment in the Mississippi Virtual Public School, a digital learning pilot district or a pilot virtual public school shall be free of charge to students.  The costs associated with the operations of the * * * virtual school Mississippi Virtual Public School or a pilot virtual public school must be shared by the State Department of Education, subject to appropriation, and/or the local school districts.  Once the State Department of Education appropriation and the local school district budgeted funds for the Mississippi Virtual Public School or the pilot virtual public school have been expended and students choose to enroll in * * *online courses the Mississippi Virtual Public School or a pilot virtual public school, the costs of the online courses may be the responsibility of the students' parents or guardians.

     (10)  A sponsor operating a pilot virtual public school shall adopt a policy governing enrollment procedures.  The enrollment procedures must include, at a minimum, the following:

          (a)  The timeframe in which student applications are accepted for both fall and spring semesters;

          (b)  A policy for accepting students who live outside of the district or service area, including the policies and procedures related to the creation of a waiting list if more students from outside the district or service area apply than can be accommodated by the pilot school;

          (c)  An opportunity for parental input and hearing before denial of an application for any reason other than lack of capacity in the pilot program; and

          (d)  Engagement policies and a process with provision of fair warnings and opportunities for corrective actions before removal of a student from the pilot program.  

     SECTION 2.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.