MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2011 Regular Session
To: Education; Appropriations
By: Representative Ellis
AN ACT TO CREATE THE MISSISSIPPI UPSTART PROJECT TO SERVE AS A HOME-BASED EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM TO DEVELOP SCHOOL READINESS SKILLS OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN; TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO CONTRACT WITH THE WATERFORD INSTITUTE FOR PURPOSES OF PROVIDING DELIVERY OF THE PROGRAM FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN; TO PRESCRIBE THE RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES OF THE PROVIDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PROGRAM; TO REQUIRE THAT THE CONTRACT PROVIDE FOR ONE YEAR OF FUNDING FOR THE PROGRAM WITH AN OPTION TO EXTEND THE CONTRACT FOR ADDITIONAL YEARS OR EXPAND THE PROGRAM TO A GREATER NUMBER OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN; TO AUTHORIZE A LOCAL SCHOOL TO PARTICIPATE IN MISSISSIPPI UPSTART IF THE LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD AGREES TO WORK IN COOPERATION WITH THE CONTRACTOR; TO AUTHORIZE FAMILY PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAM AND TO PRESCRIBE THE MANNER OF SOLICITING FAMILY PARTICIPATION; TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION OR PARTICIPATING LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT TO PURCHASE CERTAIN EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES TO BE USED IN THE PROGRAM; TO REQUIRE AN ANNUAL AUDIT OF THE USE OF FUNDS USED FOR MISSISSIPPI UPSTART; TO REQUIRE THAT THE AUDIT REQUIREMENT BE INCLUDED IN THE CONTRACT; TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO MAKE AN ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE REPORT BY NOVEMBER 30 EACH YEAR; TO REQUIRE THAT FINANCIAL LITERACY BE INCLUDED AS A COMPONENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI UPSTART PROGRAM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1.
For purposes of this act, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed
in the section, unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) "Contractor" means Waterford Institute, a not-for-profit,
sole source provider of educational technology services as determined by the
Legislature under Section 2.
(b) "Low income" means an income below two hundred percent (200%) of the federal poverty guideline.
(c)
"Preschool children" means children who are between age four (4) and
five (5) years of age, who have not entered kindergarten.
(d) "Mississippi Upstart" means the project established by
Section 2 of this act which uses a home-based educational technology program to
develop school readiness skills of preschool children.
SECTION 2. (1) Mississippi Upstart, which uses a home-based educational technology program to develop school readiness skills of preschool children, is created to:
(a) Evaluate the effectiveness of providing preschool children with at-home access to interactive individualized instruction delivered by computers and the Internet to prepare them academically for success in school; and
(b) Test the
feasibility of scaling a home-based curriculum in reading, math, and science
delivered by computers and the Internet to all preschool children in the State
of Mississippi.
(2) The State Board of Education, acting on behalf of the Mississippi
Virtual Public School Program, shall contract with the Waterford Institute for
the delivery of a home-based educational technology program for preschool
children that meets the requirements of subsection (3).
(3) A home-based educational technology program for preschool children
shall meet the following standards:
(a) The contractor shall provide computer-assisted instruction for preschool children on a home computer connected by the Internet to a centralized file storage facility;
(b) The contractor shall:
(i) Provide technical support to families for the installation and operation of the instructional software; and
(ii) Provide for the installation of computer and Internet access in homes of low-income families that cannot afford the equipment and service;
(c) The contractor shall have the capability of performing the following functions through the Internet:
(i) Communicating with parents;
(ii) Updating the instructional software;
(iii) Validating user access;
(iv) Collecting usage data;
(v) Storing research data; and
(vi) Producing reports for parents, schools and the Legislature;
(d) The program shall include the following components:
(i) Computer-assisted, individualized instruction in reading, mathematics, and science;
(ii) A multisensory reading tutoring program; and
(iii) A validated computer adaptive reading test that does not require the presence of trained adults to administer and is an accurate indicator of reading readiness of children who cannot read;
(e) The contractor shall have the capability to quickly and efficiently modify, improve and support the product;
(f) The contractor shall work in cooperation with school district personnel who will provide administrative and technical support of the program as provided in Section 3 of this act;
(g) The contractor must solicit families to participate in the program as provided in Section 4 of this act; and
(h) In implementing the home-based educational technology program, the contractor shall seek the advice and expertise of early childhood education professionals within Mississippi's institutions of higher learning on issues such as:
(i) Soliciting families to participate in the program;
(ii) Providing training to families; and
(iii) Motivating families to regularly use the instructional software.
(4) The contractor shall provide funding for a home-based educational technology program for preschool children for one (1) year with an option to extend the contract for additional years or to expand the program to a greater number of preschool children, subject to Legislative appropriation.
SECTION 3. (1) A school district may participate in Mississippi Upstart if the local school board agrees to work in cooperation with the contractor to provide administrative and technical support for the project.
(2) Family participants in Mississippi Upstart shall be solicited from school districts that participate in Mississippi Upstart.
(3) A school district that participates in Mississippi Upstart shall:
(a) Receive funding for paraprofessional and technical support staff, travel, materials and meeting costs of the program;
(b) Participate in program training by the contractor; and
(c) Agree to adopt standardized policies and procedures in implementing the project.
SECTION 4. (1) The contractor must solicit families to participate in Mississippi Upstart through a public information campaign and referrals from participating school districts.
(2) (a) Preschool children who participate in Mississippi Upstart must:
(i) Be selected from families with diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds; and
(ii) Reside in different regions of the state, in both urban and rural areas.
(b) A minimum of at least thirty percent (30%) of the preschool children selected to participate in Mississippi Upstart must be from low-income families.
(3) A low-income family that cannot afford a computer and Internet service to operate the instructional software designed for the project may obtain a computer and peripheral equipment on loan from the Mississippi Virtual Public School Program or local school district, if a participant, and receive free Internet service for the duration of the family's participation in the project.
(4) The contractor shall make the home-based educational technology program available to families at an agreed-upon cost if the number of families desiring to participate in Mississippi Upstart exceeds the number of participants funded by the legislative appropriation.
SECTION 5. The Mississippi Virtual Public School Program or a participating local school district may purchase computers, peripheral equipment and Internet service for low income families who cannot afford them through cooperative purchasing contracts administered by the State Department of Finance and Administration Office of Purchasing, Travel and Fleet Management under the authority of Chapter 7, Title 31, Mississippi Code of 1972.
SECTION 6. (1) The State Auditor shall conduct an annual audit of the contractor's use of funds for Mississippi Upstart, or contract with an independent certified public accountant to conduct an annual audit.
(2) The State Board of Education shall require by contract that the contractor must open its books and records relating to its expenditure of funds under the contract to the State Auditor or the State Auditor's designee. The contract shall also require the contractor to reimburse the State Auditor for the actual and necessary costs of the audit.
(3) Of the funds appropriated by the Legislature for Mississippi Upstart, excluding those funds used to provide computers, peripheral equipment and Internet service to families, no more than five percent (5%) may be used as payment for the audit of the program.
SECTION 7. (1) Beginning with the year 2012, the State Board of Education shall make a report on Mississippi Upstart to the House of Representatives and State Senate Education Committees by November 30 each year.
(2) The report shall address the extent to which Mississippi Upstart is accomplishing the purposes for which it was established as specified in Section 1 of this act, and include the following:
(a) Information on the number of families:
(i) Volunteering to participate in the program;
(ii)
Selected to participate in the program;
(iii) Requesting computers; and
(iv) Furnished with computers;
(b) Information on the frequency of use of the instructional software;
(c) Information on the obstacles encountered with software usage, hardware, or providing technical assistance to families;
(d) Information on student performance on pre-kindergarten and post-kindergarten assessments conducted by school districts for students who participated in the home-based educational technology program and those who did not participate in the program; and
(e) Information, as made available, on the evaluation of the program conducted under Section 2 of this act.
SECTION 8. (1) As used in this section, "financial and economic literacy passport" means a document that tracks mastery of financial and economic literacy concepts and completion of financial and economic activities, including:
(a) Basic budgeting;
(b) Saving and financial investments;
(c) Banking and financial services, including balancing a checkbook or a bank account;
(d) Career management, including earning an income;
(e) Rights and responsibilities of renting or buying a home;
(f) Retirement planning;
(g) Loans and borrowing money, including interest, credit card debt, predatory lending and payday loans;
(h) Insurance;
(i) Federal, state and local taxes;
(j) Charitable giving;
(k) Online commerce;
(l) Identity fraud and theft;
(m) Negative financial consequences of gambling;
(n) Bankruptcy;
(o) Free markets and prices;
(p) Supply and demand;
(q) Monetary and fiscal policy;
(r) Effective business plan creation, including using economic analysis in creating a plan;
(s) Scarcity and choices;
(t) Opportunity cost and tradeoffs;
(u) Productivity;
(v) Entrepreneurism; and
(w) Economic reasoning.
(2) The State Board of Education, in cooperation with interested private and nonprofit entities, shall:
(a) Develop a financial and economic literacy passport that students may elect to complete;
(b) Develop methods of encouraging parent and educator involvement in completion of the financial and economic literacy passport;
(c) Develop and implement appropriate recognition and incentives for students who complete the financial and economic literacy passport, including:
(i) A financial and economic literacy endorsement on the student's diploma of graduation;
(ii) A specific designation on the student's official transcript; and
(iii) Any incentives offered by community partners;
(d) More fully integrate existing and new financial and economic literacy education into instruction in kindergarten through Grade 12 by:
(i) Coordinating financial and economic literacy instruction with existing instruction in other core curriculum areas such as mathematics and social studies;
(ii) Using curriculum mapping;
(iii) Creating training materials and staff development programs that:
1. Highlight areas of potential coordination between financial and economic literacy education and other core curriculum concepts; and
2. Demonstrate specific examples of financial and economic literacy concepts as a way of teaching other core curriculum concepts.
(iv) Using appropriate financial and economic literacy assessments to improve financial and economic literacy education and, if necessary, developing assessments;
(e) Work with interested private and nonprofit entities to:
(i) Coordinate school use of existing financial and economic literacy education resources;
(ii) Develop simple, clear, and consistent messaging to reinforce and link existing financial literacy resources; and
(iii) Coordinate the efforts of school, work, private, nonprofit, and other financial education providers in implementing methods of appropriately communicating to teachers, students, and parents key financial and economic literacy messages; and
(f) In accordance with the Mississippi Administrative Procedures Act, make rules to develop guidelines and methods for school districts and charter schools to more fully integrate financial and economic literacy education into other core curriculum courses.
(3) The State Superintendent of Public Education annually shall report to the House of Representatives and State Senate Education Committees by November 30 each year on the successes and areas of needed improvement in financial and economic literacy education provided under this section.
SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2011.