Senate Bill 2500

(As Sent to Governor)

AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS OF THE LUMBERTON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT, LAMAR COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT AND POPLARVILLE SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICT TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT NOT LATER THAN JULY 1, 2019, TO ABOLISH AND DISSOLVE THE LUMBERTON SCHOOL DISTRICT AND ITS CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE, EFFECTIVE AT THE START OF THE 2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR; TO ESTABLISH A COMMISSION ON THE ADMINISTRATIVE CONSOLIDATION OF LUMBERTON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT TO SUBMIT ITS PLAN OF ABOLITION AND DISSOLUTION TO THE LEGISLATURE NO LATER THAN DECEMBER 1, 2017; TO PROVIDE THAT THE TERRITORY OF THE LUMBERTON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCATED IN LAMAR COUNTY SHALL BE TRANSFERRED TO THE LAMAR COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT AND THE TERRITORY OF THE LUMBERTON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCATED IN PEARL RIVER COUNTY SHALL BE TRANSFERRED TO THE POPLARVILLE SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICT; TO PROVIDE THAT STUDENTS ENROLLED IN THE SCHOOLS OF THE FORMER LUMBERTON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT MAY BE GRANTED AN AUTOMATIC TRANSFER BY THE LAMAR COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION OR THE POPLARVILLE SCHOOL BOARD, AS DETERMINED BY THE RESIDENCE OF THE STUDENT, TO CONTINUE TO ATTEND THE SCHOOLS LOCATED IN THE FORMER LUMBERTON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT; TO AMEND SECTION 37-7-103, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) Not later than July 1, 2019, the local school boards of the Lumberton Public School District, Lamar County School District and Poplarville Separate School District shall, under the authority provided in Section 37-7-103, enter into an agreement, by which the approval of such agreement shall be spread upon each board's minutes of their regularly scheduled meetings or at special meetings called for the specific purpose of such agreement, to abolish and dissolve the Lumberton School District and its central administrative office to be effective for the start of the 2019-2020 school year. The agreement between each school board made parties thereto must consider:

(a) The composition of the district boundaries of the Lumberton Public School District, as it existed on January 1, 2016, to ensure that the student population to be transferred to the Lamar County School District and Poplarville Separate School District does not disparately impact the desegregation of either school district entering into agreement;

(b) The territory embraced by Lumberton, Mississippi, located within the bounded territory of Lamar County, from which the school district to be abolished by agreement draws a portion of its student population, shall be absorbed into the boundary lines of the Lamar County School District, which shall spread a legal description of the district's new boundaries upon its minutes. It shall be the responsibility of the board of supervisors of such county to apportion the school district into five (5) new single-member board of education election districts, which shall be consistent with the apportioned population of the existing Lamar County School District and that portion of the former Lumberton Public School District situated within Lamar County as the former district existed on July 1, 2016. The board of supervisors of the county shall thereafter publish the same in some newspaper of general circulation in the county for at least three (3) consecutive weeks and after having given notice of publication and recording the same upon the minutes of the school boards of each appropriate school district in the county, the new district lines will thereafter be effective; and

(c) The territory embraced by Lumberton, Mississippi, located within the bounded territory of Pearl River County, from which the school district to be abolished by agreement draws a portion of its student population, shall be absorbed into the boundary lines of the Poplarville Separate School District as added territory, which shall spread a legal description of the district's new boundaries with added territory upon its minutes. It shall be the responsibility of the municipal governing authority having jurisdiction over the territory wherein the Poplarville Separate School District is located to provide residents of the added territory with representation on the school board as authorized under the provisions of Section 37-7-203(1), which shall be consistent with the apportioned population of the existing Poplarville Separate School District and the percentage of the student population from that portion of the former Lumberton Public School District situated in Pearl River County within the added territory of the Poplarville Separate School District as the former district existed on July 1, 2016. The municipal governing authority shall thereafter publish the same in some newspaper of general circulation in the county for at least three (3) consecutive weeks and after having given notice of publication and recording the same upon the minutes of the school boards of each appropriate school district in the county, the new member districts will thereafter be effective; and

(2) (a) There is hereby created and established an advisory council to be known as the Commission on the Administrative Consolidation of the Lumberton Public School District. The commission shall be composed of eleven (11) members as follows:

(i) The State Superintendent of Education, or his designee, who shall serve as Chairman of the Commission;

(ii) The Superintendent of the Lumberton Public School District;

(iii) The Superintendent of Education of the Lamar County School District;

(iv) The Superintendent of the Poplarville Separate School District;

(v) Two (2) members of the Lamar County Board of Education to be appointed by the Lamar County Board of Education;

(vi) One (1) member of the Board of Trustees of the Poplarville Separate School District to be appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Poplarville Separate School District;

(vii) One (1) member of the Board of Trustees of the Lumberton Public School District to be appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Lumberton Public School District;

(viii) One (1) resident of the area which comprises the Lumberton Public School District to be appointed by the State Superintendent of Public Education;

(ix) One (1) resident of the area which comprises the Lamar County School District to be appointed by the Lamar County Board of Supervisors; and

(x) One (1) resident of the area which comprises the Poplarville Separate School District to be appointed by the Pearl River Board of Supervisors.

(b) The Commission on the Administrative Consolidation of the Lumberton Public School District shall meet within thirty (30) days of passage of this act upon the call of the State Superintendent of Education and shall hold hearings and meet as necessary and develop a report to the Legislature, the Governor and the State Board of Education on or before December 1, 2017, with the agreed-upon plan for proceeding with the abolition and dissolving of the Lumberton Public School District, which shall include a reasonable effort to maintain and operate a school in the former Lumberton Public School District by which students desiring may, in the discretion of the parents of such students, attend.

(c) The plan may provide an option for students enrolled in the schools of the Lumberton Public School District on May 1, 2017, and children registered for kindergarten on that date with the Lumberton Public School District may be granted an automatic transfer by the Lamar County Board of Education or the Poplarville School Board, as determined by the agreed-upon plan.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the closing or maintenance of any school or school facility, unless the facility is an unneeded administrative office located within a school district which has been abolished under the provisions of this section.

SECTION 2. Section 37-7-103, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-7-103. From and after July 1, 1987, the school board of any school district shall have full jurisdiction, power and authority, at any regular meeting thereof or at any special meeting called for that purpose, to abolish such existing district, or to reorganize, change or alter the boundaries of any such district. In addition thereto, with the consent of the school board of the school district involved, the school board may add to such school district any part of the school district adjoining same, and with the consent of the school board of the school district involved, may detach territory from such school district and annex same to an adjoining district. Provided, however, that the consent of the school board of the school districts involved in implementing the provisions of Section 37-7-104 or Section 37-7-104.2 or Section 37-7-104.3 or Section 1 of this act shall not be required for the administrative consolidation of such school districts pursuant to the order of the State Board of Education.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.