MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2017 Regular Session
To: Education; Revenue and Expenditure General Bills
By: Representative Dixon
AN ACT TO CREATE THE TEXTBOOK PURCHASING PILOT PROGRAM FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF PURCHASING NEW TEXTBOOKS FOR THE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THE STATE, WHICH SHALL BE ADMINISTERED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; TO PROVIDE THAT THE LEGISLATURE SHALL APPROPRIATE A CERTAIN AMOUNT TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOR FISCAL YEARS 2018 THROUGH 2021 TO BE ALLOCATED TO CERTAIN COUNTIES EACH YEAR; TO PROVIDE THAT THE FUNDS RECEIVED BY THE COUNTIES SHALL BE ALLOCATED PROPORTIONATELY AMONG THE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THE COUNTY; TO REQUIRE THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO USE THE FUNDS ONLY FOR PURCHASING NEW TEXTBOOKS FOR THE STUDENTS OF THE SCHOOLS IN THE DISTRICT; TO PROVIDE THAT THE TEXTBOOKS PURCHASED SHALL ONLY BE PHYSICAL, PRINTED, HARD COPY TEXTBOOKS, AND SHALL NOT BE TEXTBOOKS ON A COMPUTER, TABLET, MODULE OR ANY OTHER ELECTRONIC FORMAT; TO PROVIDE THAT IF THE LEGISLATURE DOES NOT APPROPRIATE THE FULL AMOUNT REQUIRED BY THIS ACT EACH YEAR FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE PILOT PROGRAM, THEN CERTAIN STATE AND LOCAL EDUCATIONAL OFFICIALS AND PERSONNEL SHALL NOT BE AUTHORIZED TO RECEIVE ANY INCREASE IN THEIR ANNUAL SALARY OR OTHER COMPENSATION DURING THE YEARS THAT THE PILOT PROGRAM IS OPERATIONAL; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) There is created the Textbook Purchasing Pilot Program for the sole purpose of purchasing new textbooks for the public school districts in the state, which shall be administered by the State Department of Education.
(2) The Legislature shall appropriate to the State Department of Education for the purposes of the pilot program a total of Four Hundred Million Dollars ($400,000,000.00) for each of the fiscal years 2018, 2019 and 2020, and One Hundred Forty Million Dollars ($140,000,000.00) for fiscal year 2021, which shall be allocated as follows:
(a) Of the funds appropriated for fiscal year 2018, Sixteen Million Dollars ($16,000,000.00) shall be allocated to each of the following counties: Alcorn, Prentiss, DeSoto, Tunica, Tate, Coahoma, Quitman, Panola, Lafayette, Pontotoc, Bolivar, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Leflore, Carroll, Washington, Humphreys, Holmes, Sharkey, Yazoo, Issaquena, Warren, Hinds, Copiah and Amite.
(b) Of the funds appropriated for fiscal year 2019, Sixteen Million Dollars ($16,000,000.00) shall be allocated to each of the following counties: Marshall, Benton, Tippah, Union, Tishomingo, Lee, Itawamba, Yalobusha, Grenada, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Monroe, Montgomery, Webster, Clay, Lowndes, Claiborne, Jefferson, Amite, Franklin, Lincoln, Lawrence, Wilkinson, Pike and Walthall.
(c) Of the funds appropriated for fiscal year 2020, Sixteen Million Dollars ($16,000,000.00) shall be allocated to each of the following counties: Choctaw, Oktibbeha, Attala, Winston, Noxubee, Leake, Neshoba, Kemper, Scott, Newton, Simpson, Smith, Jasper, Clarke, Jefferson Davis, Covington, Jones, Wayne, Marion, Lamar, Forrest, Perry, Greene, Stone and George.
(d) Of the funds appropriated for fiscal year 2021, Nineteen Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($19,500,000.00) shall be allocated to each of the following counties: Madison, Rankin, Lauderdale, Pearl River, Hancock, Harrison and Jackson. The remaining funds appropriated for fiscal year 2021 shall be allocated proportionately among the counties that received allocations under paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of this subsection.
(3) The funds received by each county under this section shall be allocated proportionately among the public school districts in the county, and the school districts shall use the funds only for purchasing new textbooks for the students of the schools in the district. The textbooks purchased shall only be physical, printed, hard copy textbooks, and shall not be textbooks on a computer, tablet, module or any other electronic format.
(4) If the Legislature does not appropriate the full amount required by this section each year for the purposes of the pilot program, then the State Superintendent of Public Education, the deputy superintendents of the State Department of Education, the directors of the offices and bureaus, as defined in Section 7-17-11, of the State Department of Education, and the local district administrative and central office personnel of the public school districts, shall not be authorized to receive any increase in their annual salary or other compensation during the years that the pilot program is operational.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2017.