MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Education
By: Representatives Moore, Dixon
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-165-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE FIRST SCHOOL YEAR FOLLOWING THE APPROVAL OF A CHRONICALLY UNDER-PERFORMING PUBLIC SCHOOL'S PETITION FOR CONVERSION TO CHARTER SCHOOL STATUS TO BE A TRANSITIONAL YEAR DURING WHICH THE CONVERSION OCCURS; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 37-165-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH DEFINES CERTAIN TERMS USED UNDER THE CONVERSION CHARTER SCHOOL ACT OF 2010, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 37-165-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-165-7. (1) The provisions of this chapter shall be applicable to only those chronically under-performing public schools in the State of Mississippi which seek to be converted, and ultimately may be converted, to conversion charter schools upon approval of a petition for conversion charter school status by the State Board of Education.
(2) The State Board of Education, subject to the requirements of the Mississippi Administrative Procedures Law, shall establish rules and regulations for the submission of petitions for the conversion of a public school to conversion charter school status and criteria and procedures for the operation of conversion charter schools. The board shall receive and review each petition for the conversion of a public school to conversion charter school status from the school's sponsors and, in its discretion, may approve the petition and grant conversion charter school status.
(3) In order to be approved, a petition for conversion charter school status must adequately include:
(a) A plan for improvement at the school level for improving student learning and achieving a Successful rating or higher under the State Accountability Model;
(b) A set of academic or vocational, or both, performance-based objectives and student achievement-based objectives for the term of the contract and the means for measuring those objectives on no less than an annual basis;
(c) An agreement to provide a yearly report to parents, the school board of the school district in which the conversion charter school is located, and the State Board of Education which indicates the progress made by the conversion charter school in the previous year in meeting the academic or vocational, or both, performance objectives;
(d) An agreement that the conversion charter school shall be nonsectarian;
(e) An agreement that the conversion charter school shall not charge tuition; and
(f) An agreement requiring the conversion charter school to be subject to financial audits in the same manner as public school districts.
(4) The procedures and process for the conversion of a public school to conversion charter school status shall be as follows:
(a) A petition shall be developed by a sponsor or its appointed representative and shall be made available to all parents or guardians of students enrolled in a public school that is chronically Low-Performing, At-Risk of Failing or Failing, as determined by the State Department of Education, with a copy of the proposed conversion plan attached to the petition for their inspection and signing;
(b) The petition and conversion plan must be approved by more than fifty percent (50%) of the families of the students enrolled in a chronically under-performing public school during the third consecutive year in which the school has been designated as Low-Performing, At-Risk of Failing or Failing, as determined by the State Department of Education. The family of a student enrolled in a chronically under-performing public school proposed to be converted to conversion charter school status shall be entitled to one (1) vote per family without regard to the number of children a family may have enrolled as students at the school. The group of parents or guardians submitting or having the petition submitted on their behalf shall be considered the sponsor of the conversion charter school;
(c) The sponsor shall prepare and submit the petition and the conversion plan for conversion charter school status approved by the parents or guardians of students enrolled in a chronically under-performing public school to the State Board of Education upon forms prescribed by or in a format specified by the board;
(d) Before the petition for conversion granting a public school conversion charter school status is submitted to the State Board of Education for approval, the sponsor shall conduct a public hearing in the local school district in which the school proposed for conversion is located to allow the parents or guardians of students enrolled in the chronically under-performing public school affected by the conversion to be informed of the conversion process and to address any concerns relating to the process and subsequent operation of the conversion charter school; * * *
(e) After the State Board of Education approves a petition for conversion charter school status, the parents or guardians of the students enrolled in the conversion charter school shall select members to serve on the conversion charter school's local management board, which members shall be selected in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the State Board of Education for the selection of conversion charter school local management board members; and
(f) The first school year following the approval of a petition for conversion charter school status under this chapter shall be a transitional school year during which the chronically under-performing public school shall be converted into a conversion charter school.
(5) The conversion plan to be attached to the petition must include the following:
(a) A description of the plan for school improvement that addresses how the school proposes to work toward improving student learning and achieving a Successful rating or higher under the State Accountability Model;
(b) An outline of proposed academic or vocational, or both, performance criteria to be used during the initial period of the contract to measure progress of the school in improving student learning and achieving a Successful rating or higher under the State Accountability Model requiring that:
(i) Academic performance criteria must include specific and measureable benchmarks of academic performance on state assessments; and
(ii) Academic performance criteria include a requirement that conversion charter schools not miss adequate yearly progress for any two (2) consecutive years, as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, or other future federal school accountability requirements;
(c) A provision requiring the conversion charter school to comply with all rules, regulations, policies and procedures of the State Board of Education and the local school board and the provisions of the Mississippi Code of 1972 relating to the elementary and secondary education of students, except those rules, regulations, policies or procedures from which the conversion charter school specifically requests to be exempted and which have been agreed upon by the State Board of Education as specified in the school's contract. Conversion charter schools must comply with general health and safety standards, state test assessments and accountability requirements, financial accountability and auditing requirements, and all reporting and data collecting requirements in the same manner as public schools in the local school district;
(d) The local management board shall not directly or indirectly communicate to a parent or guardian that the conversion charter school is unable to meet the needs of a child, but shall provide a free and public education to every student in the attendance zone;
(e) Conversion charter schools may not be exempted from the following statutes:
(i) Section 37-9-75, which relates to teacher strikes;
(ii) Section 37-11-20, which prohibits acts of intimidation intended to keep a student from attending school;
(iii) Section 37-11-21, which prohibits abuse of school staff;
(iv) Section 37-11-23, which prohibits the willful disruption of school and school meetings;
(v) Sections 37-11-29 and 37-11-31, which relate to reporting requirements regarding unlawful or violent acts on school property;
(vi) Section 37-151-107, which prohibits false reporting of student counts by school officials;
(vii) Applicable State Department of Health regulations;
(viii) Applicable federal No Child Left Behind requirements and any additional federal education programs; and
(ix) Applicable federal and state requirements for special education, gifted education and vocational education programs;
(f) A detailed budget and a clear business plan, including any projected costs that extend beyond the regular operational costs of the conversion charter school;
(g) A plan of governance and the process by which the members of the local management board of the conversion charter school shall be selected to serve as the governing administrative authority, provided that:
(i) The local management board shall be composed of parents or guardians of students enrolled in and in attendance at the conversion charter school, selected by other parents or guardians of students enrolled in and in attendance at that school;
(ii) Members of the local management board may serve a term of three (3) years; however, a member's term of service on the local management board is contingent upon that member having a child continuously enrolled as a student at the conversion charter school during each school year that the member serves on the board. If a student no longer attends the conversion charter school and the board member has no other child enrolled in and attending the school, the term of the member-parent or guardian shall expire immediately and a new member selected. If a student is promoted and the board member has no other child enrolled in and attending the conversion charter school, the term of the member-parent or guardian shall expire immediately and a new member selected, unless the member-parent or guardian has another child who will be enrolled in the conversion charter school in the next succeeding scholastic year;
(iii) Members of the local management board shall serve without compensation;
(iv) No member of the local school board of any public or private school district may serve on the local management board of a conversion charter school;
(v) Procedures for the subsequent selection of members and filling vacancies that occur on the local management board are included; and
(vi) The selection of members to the local management board of conversion charter schools shall be performed in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the State Board of Education for the selection of conversion charter school local management board members;
(h) An agreement to provide an annual academic achievement report to parents, the local school board of any school district from which the conversion charter school draws students and the State Board of Education, which indicates the progress made by the conversion charter school during the previous year in meeting its academic or vocational performance objectives. The report shall include, but not be limited to, the following information:
(i) Student progress concerning academic achievement;
(ii) Student attendance;
(iii) Student grades and scores on assessment instruments;
(iv) Incidents involving student discipline;
(v) Student socioeconomic data; and
(vi) Parent satisfaction with the schools;
(i) An agreement to provide a yearly financial report to parents, the local school board of any school district from which the conversion charter school draws students and the State Board of Education, which discloses all public and private funds received by the conversion charter school, and how those funds were expended;
(j) An agreement requiring all student records, financial documentation, and all other pertinent records of student and school data shall be accessible by the local school board;
(k) An agreement requiring members of the local management board of a conversion charter school to attend the training required under Section 37-3-4, provided by the Mississippi School Boards Association for local school board members and public school superintendents of this state, in order for those individuals to carry out their duties more effectively. Members of the local management board shall be reimbursed for the necessary expenses and mileage in attending any required training and shall be paid a per diem for each day in attendance at the training by the local school district in the amount authorized by Section 37-6-13 for members of the local school board;
(l) A transcript of the public hearing required under subsection (4)(d) of this section; and
(m) A description of the discipline policy to be adopted by the local management board, or alternatively, an agreement that the local management board shall adhere to the discipline policy implemented for the school district by the local school board.
(6) If a petition for the conversion of a public school to conversion charter school status is approved, the local management board, subject to the utilization of any available resources, may:
(a) Extend the school day or length of the scholastic year;
(b) Develop and establish a curriculum that is consistent with the Mississippi Curriculum Framework which provides courses that promote postsecondary education and vocational preparation and/or admission;
(c) Select, purchase and use textbooks, literature and other instructional materials that would improve educational attainment by students in the school, subject to the approval of the State Board of Education;
(d) Select a person to be employed as the principal of the conversion charter school or may contract with a profit or nonprofit organization which has operated a successful public school in any state or the District of Columbia for the daily administrative management of the conversion charter school, provided that daily administrative management shall not include the authority to employ or terminate conversion charter school administrators, teachers or other personnel, establish curriculum or adopt a budget. The person selected by the local management board to serve as principal of the conversion charter school must attend or must have attended a principal leadership program approved by the State Department of Education. If the local management board contracts with a profit or nonprofit organization for daily administrative management functions, that contract shall not abrogate or preempt any provisions of the contract entered into between the local management board and the State Board of Education for the conversion of the public school to conversion charter school status; and
(e) Select licensed teachers who are highly qualified under the No Child Left Behind Act for employment in the conversion charter school and determine the salaries of those teachers employed. The minimum salaries for licensed teachers employed in the conversion charter school shall be in accordance with the scale for teachers' salaries provided under the Teacher Opportunity Program, as established under Section 37-19-7.
(7) (a) All functions and decisions of the local management board impacting the academic curriculum, student progress and assessment, and the accountability standards of a conversion charter school shall be subject to the reviewing and approval authority of the State Board of Education.
(b) All administrative functions and decisions of the local management board impacting the financial or any other managerial or operational functions of a conversion charter school shall be subject to the reviewing and approval authority of the local school board.
(8) Meetings of the local management board shall be subject to the requirements of Sections 25-41-1 through 25-41-17 governing open meetings.
(9) Nothing in this chapter prohibits conversion charter schools from offering virtual service pursuant to state law and regulations defining virtual schools.
SECTION 2. Section 37-165-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
37-165-5. For purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "Conversion charter school" means a public school that has converted to operating under the terms of a contract entered into between the local management board of a conversion charter school and the State Board of Education.
(b) "Local school" means a public school in Mississippi which is under the management and control of the school board of the school district in which the school is located.
(c) "Petition" means a proposal to enter into an academic or vocational, or both, performance-based contract between the State Board of Education and the sponsors of a local school whereby the local school obtains a conversion charter school status.
(d) "Sponsor" means the group of parents or guardians of students enrolled in a public school rated as Low-Performing, At-Risk of Failing or Failing or an organization selected or appointed by the sponsoring group of parents or guardians to represent those parents or guardians submitting a petition to the State Board of Education for the conversion of a chronically under-performing public school into a conversion charter school, provided that during the petitioning process and the subsequent approval of a contract, that group of parents or guardians shall remain the sponsor of the conversion charter school.
(e) "Chronically under-performing public school" means a public school that, during each of three (3) consecutive school years, is rated as Low-Performing, At-Risk of Failing or Failing, as determined by the State Department of Education. For the purposes of this chapter, the 2009-2010 school year shall be the first year that a school's classification may be considered.
(f) "Board" means the State Board of Education.
(g) "Department" means the State Department of Education.
(h) "Local management board" means the five-member governing board of a conversion charter school composed of the parents or guardians of students enrolled in the conversion charter school responsible for the academic and administrative functions and decisions of the conversion charter school. The academic responsibilities are subject to the authority of the State Board of Education and the administrative responsibilities are subject to the authority of the local school board. SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2012.