MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2022 Regular Session
To: Education; Appropriations
By: Representative Scott
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-1-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO DEVELOP A CURRICULUM AND A COURSE OF STUDY TO PROMOTE HOME ECONOMICS OBJECTIVES IN "D" AND "F" RATED SCHOOL DISTRICTS; TO PRESCRIBE THE MINIMUM COMPONENTS TO BE INCLUDED IN THE CURRICULUM; TO AMEND SECTION 37-13-151, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE SCHOOL DISTRICTS ASSIGNED AN ACCOUNTABILITY RATING OF "D" OR "F" TO PROVIDE PROGRAMS OF EDUCATION IN HOME ECONOMICS TO STUDENTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS; TO REMOVE THE REQUIREMENT THAT SUCH PROGRAMS BE SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BY THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION; TO REQUIRE ALL HOME ECONOMIC PROGRAMS TO BE ALIGNED WITH THE CURRICULUM AND COURSE OF STUDY DEVELOPED BY THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION; TO AMEND SECTION 37-13-153, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE STATE FUNDING FOR HOME ECONOMICS TO BE INCLUDED IN THE ADEQUATE EDUCATION PROGRAM AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION APPROPRIATION BILLS; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 37-13-155, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 37-1-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-1-3. (1) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules and regulations and set standards and policies for the organization, operation, management, planning, budgeting and programs of the State Department of Education.
(a) The board is directed to identify all functions of the department that contribute to or comprise a part of the state system of educational accountability and to establish and maintain within the department the necessary organizational structure, policies and procedures for effectively coordinating such functions. Such policies and procedures shall clearly fix and delineate responsibilities for various aspects of the system and for overall coordination of the total system and its effective management.
(b) The board shall establish and maintain a system-wide plan of performance, policy and directions of public education not otherwise provided for.
(c) The board shall effectively use the personnel and resources of the department to enhance technical assistance to school districts in instruction and management therein.
(d) The board shall establish and maintain a central budget policy.
(e) The board shall establish and maintain within the State Department of Education a central management capacity under the direction of the State Superintendent of Public Education.
(f) The board, with recommendations from the superintendent, shall design and maintain a five-year plan and program for educational improvement that shall set forth objectives for system performance and development and be the basis for budget requests and legislative initiatives.
(2) (a) The State Board of Education shall adopt and maintain a curriculum and a course of study to be used in the public school districts that is designed to prepare the state's children and youth to be productive, informed, creative citizens, workers and leaders, and it shall regulate all matters arising in the practical administration of the school system not otherwise provided for.
(b) Before the 1999-2000 school year, the State Board of Education shall develop personal living and finances objectives that focus on money management skills for individuals and families for appropriate, existing courses at the secondary level. The objectives must require the teaching of those skills necessary to handle personal business and finances and must include instruction in the following:
(i) Opening a bank account and assessing the quality of a bank's services;
(ii) Balancing a checkbook;
(iii) Managing debt, including retail and credit card debt;
(iv) Completing a loan application;
(v) The implications of an inheritance;
(vi) The basics of personal insurance policies;
(vii) Consumer rights and responsibilities;
(viii) Dealing with salesmen and merchants;
(ix) Computing state and federal income taxes;
(x) Local tax assessments;
(xi) Computing interest rates by various mechanisms;
(xii) Understanding simple contracts; and
(xiii) Contesting an incorrect billing statement.
(c) Before the 2022-2023 school year, the State Board of Education shall develop a curriculum and a course of study to promote home economics objectives that focus on the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary for living as an individual and as a member of a household, personal life management and postsecondary education advancement for existing courses being taught in "D" and "F" rated school districts. The objectives must require the teaching of those skills essential to family and consumer science and must include instruction in the following:
(i) Cooking, including food safety, preparation and preservation, and the nutritional benefits of a balanced meal;
(ii) Child development that provides instruction on how to correctly respond to children at each stage;
(iii) Education and community awareness;
(iv) Home management and design;
(v) Sewing and textiles;
(vi) Budgeting and economics; and
(vii) Health and hygiene.
(3) The State Board of Education shall have authority to expend any available federal funds, or any other funds expressly designated, to pay training, educational expenses, salary incentives and salary supplements to licensed teachers employed in local school districts or schools administered by the State Board of Education. Such incentive payments shall not be considered part of a school district's local supplement as defined in Section 37-151-5(o), nor shall the incentives be considered part of the local supplement paid to an individual teacher for the purposes of Section 37-19-7(1). MAEP funds or any other state funds shall not be used to provide such incentives unless specifically authorized by law.
(4) The State Board of Education shall, through its actions, seek to implement the policies set forth in Section 37-1-2.
SECTION 2. Section 37-13-151, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-13-151. * * * Beginning with the 2022-2023
school year, all local school districts assigned an accountability rating
of "D" or "F" shall provide programs of education in
home economics, in Grade 10, 11 or 12, which include course work in responsible
parenting and family living skills. These programs shall contain instruction
to prepare students to understand children's physical, mental, emotional and
social growth and development as well as to assume responsibility for their
care and guidance, with emphasis on nutrition, emotional health and physical
health. All such programs * * * must be aligned
with the curriculum and course of study developed by the State Board of
Education pursuant to Section 37-31-205(1)(d).
SECTION 3. Section 37-13-153, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-13-153. Beginning
with the 2022-2023 school year, state funding for the home economics
programs required in Section 37-13-151 shall be * * * included in
the * * *
adequate education program and vocational education appropriation bills
for each fiscal year * * *. There shall be
a line item specifying the amount that is to be expended to employ no less than
one (1) instructor in each * * * school
district assigned an accountability rating of "D" or "F"
in the state. Any funds so appropriated by line item which are not expended
for this purpose in the vocational education appropriation may be expended for
other related home economics vocational purposes during the fiscal year for
which those funds were appropriated. * * *
SECTION 4. Section 37-13-155, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
37-13-155. Subject to the availability of funds appropriated therefor, any school district or community/junior college district may apply for funding through the Division of Vocational and Technical Education of the State Department of Education to acquire and operate a home economics training program to provide instruction in quality child care and educational programs to the local community.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.