Bill Text: MS HB1043 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: New start school; require transformation of chronically failing school into.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Failed) 2010-03-27 - Died In Conference [HB1043 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2010-HB1043-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2010 Regular Session
To: Education
By: Representatives Brown, Jones (111th), Espy
House Bill 1043
AN ACT TO CREATE A NEW START SCHOOL PROGRAM TO BE ADMINISTERED BY THE MISSISSIPPI RECOVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; TO DEFINE THE TERM "NEW START SCHOOL"; TO REQUIRE A NEW START SCHOOL TO BE ESTABLISHED IN EACH PUBLIC SCHOOL THAT, DURING EACH OF THREE (3) CONSECUTIVE SCHOOL YEARS, IS CONSIDERED FAILING; TO REQUIRE THE DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION TO PROVIDE NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC AND ALL EMPLOYEES OF A FAILING SCHOOL OF ITS POTENTIAL TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO A NEW START SCHOOL; TO REQUIRE THE TERMINATION OF ALL LICENSED AND NONLICENSED EMPLOYEES IN A FAILING SCHOOL THAT IS TRANSFORMED INTO A NEW START SCHOOL; TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO ADOPT RULES AND REGULATIONS RELATING TO THE NEW START SCHOOL PROGRAM; TO AMEND SECTIONS 37-9-103, 37-9-3 AND 37-9-17, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) This section applies only to those public schools in the State of Mississippi which, during each of three (3) consecutive school years, are considered failing, as determined by the State Department of Education.
For purposes of this section, the term "new start school" means the successor school to a public school in the State of Mississippi which, during each of three (3) consecutive school years, is considered failing, as determined by the State Department of Education.
(2) There is established the New Start School Program for the purpose of transforming certain failing schools into quality educational options. Under the program, a new start school must be established in each public school that, during each of three (3) consecutive school years, is considered failing, as determined by the State Department of Education. The New Start School Program shall be under the administration of the Mississippi Recovery School District established under Section 37-17-6(11)(f).
(3) (a) Whenever a school is classified by the State Department of Education as a failing school for two (2) or more consecutive years, the Mississippi Recovery School District shall provide written notice to the principal and each licensed and nonlicensed employee in the school that if the school receives a classification of failing for the succeeding school year, the school will be transformed into a new start school and the person's employment with the local school district shall be terminated. The notice shall be sent by the deputy superintendent responsible for the Mississippi Recovery School District as soon as practicable after the school is classified as failing.
(b) In addition to the notice required under paragraph (a), the Mississippi Recovery School District shall provide notice to the public in a newspaper of general circulation in the local county that if the school receives a classification of failing for the succeeding school year, the school will be transformed into a new start school. The advertisement may not be placed in any portion of the newspaper where legal notices and classified advertisements appear. The advertisement shall appear in a newspaper that is published at least five (5) days a week, unless the only newspaper in the county is published less than five (5) days a week. The newspaper selected must be one of general interest, readership and circulation in all areas of the community.
(4) If a school that has been classified by the State Department of Education as a failing school for two (2) or more consecutive years is determined to be a failing school during the next succeeding school year, the Mississippi Recovery School District shall take such steps as may be necessary to facilitate the transformation of the failing school into a new start school.
(5) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules and regulations governing the transformation of chronically failing schools into new start schools. The rules and regulations must include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following provisions:
(a) All licensed and nonlicensed employees, including the principal, in a school that is to be transformed into a new start school must be terminated by the school district in which the school is located. A person terminated may apply for a position at another location in the school district; however, the school district may exercise its discretion in determining whether or not the person will be offered continued employment with the district. A person terminated under this paragraph may not be reemployed by the school district in the new start school.
(b) The deputy superintendent responsible for the Mississippi Recovery School District shall select a person to be employed as the principal of the new start school. Upon the request of the deputy superintendent, the superintendent of the school district in which the new start school is located shall enter into a contract with the person selected to be the principal in the same manner that contracts with principals are executed under Section 37-9-23. The principal of the new start school shall be an employee of the school district but shall report and be accountable directly to the deputy superintendent responsible for the Mississippi Recovery School District.
(c) The principal of the new start school shall select and recommend for employment all licensed and nonlicensed personnel for the school in the same manner as provided for other schools. However, the principal may not recommend for employment any person whose employment with the school district has been terminated under paragraph (a) of this subsection. The principal shall endeavor to select only the most qualified applicants for employment in the new start school.
(d) The State Board of Education shall develop professional development courses of training specifically designed for licensed personnel in a new start school. All licensed employees of the new start school shall be required to participate in the professional development courses.
(e) Students assigned to the attendance area of the new start school may continue to enroll in and attend school in the new start school. However, the parent or legal guardian of a student residing in the attendance area of the new start school may elect to enroll the child at a different school in the district. The transportation of a child to and from any school in the district other than the new start school shall be the responsibility of the child's parent or legal guardian.
(f) The principal of a new start school shall establish an advisory council to assist in the transformation of the new start school. The advisory council may be composed of parents, students, educators and other community members who are interested in the success of the new start school.
(g) A new start school may be given a new name, mascot and colors. Subject to the availability of funds for such purposes, the campus of the new start school may be refurbished in efforts to distinguish the new start school from the failing school it is replacing. A new start school may receive donations or grants from any public or private source for making improvements to the new start school.
(6) The 2009-2010 school year shall be the first year that a school's classification may be considered for purposes of this section, and a classification as a failing school in any year preceding the 2009-2010 school year may not be considered in determining if a particular school must be transformed into a new start school.
SECTION 2. Section 37-9-103, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-9-103. (1) As used in Sections 37-9-101 through 37-9-113, the word "employee" shall include:
(a) Any teacher, principal, superintendent or other professional personnel employed by the local school district for a continuous period of two (2) years with that district and required to have a valid license issued by the State Department of Education as a prerequisite of employment; or
(b) Any teacher, principal, superintendent or other professional personnel who has completed a continuous period of two (2) years of employment in a Mississippi public school district and one (1) full year of employment with the school district of current employment, and who is required to have a valid license issued by the State Department of Education as a prerequisite of employment.
(2) (a) The Education Employment Procedures Law shall not apply to any category of employee as defined in this section employed in any school district after the Governor declares a state of emergency under the provisions of Section 37-17-6(11). The Education Employment Procedures Law shall not be applicable in any school district for the full period of time that those conditions, as defined in Section 37-17-6(11), exist.
(b) The Education Employment Procedures Law shall not apply to any category of employee as defined in this section employed in any school that is a new start school, as provided for under Section 1 of this act.
(3) For purposes of Sections 37-9-101 through 37-9-113, the term "days" means calendar days.
SECTION 3. Section 37-9-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-9-3. Except as otherwise provided in Section 1 of this act, within the limits of the available funds, the superintendent of schools of a school district shall recommend to the school board thereof all noninstructional employees to be employed and may prescribe the duties thereof. Compensation for such employees may be paid from any lawful funds.
SECTION 4. Section 37-9-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-9-17. (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (5) of this section, on or before April 1 of each year, the principal of each school shall recommend to the superintendent of the local school district the licensed employees or noninstructional employees to be employed for the school involved except those licensed employees or noninstructional employees who have been previously employed and who have a contract valid for the ensuing scholastic year. If such recommendations meet with the approval of the superintendent, the superintendent shall recommend the employment of such licensed employees or noninstructional employees to the local school board, and, unless good reason to the contrary exists, the board shall elect the employees so recommended. If, for any reason, the local school board shall decline to elect any employee so recommended, additional recommendations for the places to be filled shall be made by the principal to the superintendent and then by the superintendent to the local school board as provided above. The school board of any local school district shall be authorized to designate a personnel supervisor or another principal employed by the school district to recommend to the superintendent licensed employees or noninstructional employees; however, this authorization shall be restricted to no more than two (2) positions for each employment period for each school in the local school district. Any noninstructional employee employed upon the recommendation of a personnel supervisor or another principal employed by the local school district must have been employed by the local school district at the time the superintendent was elected or appointed to office; a noninstructional employee employed under this authorization may not be paid compensation in excess of the statewide average compensation for such noninstructional position with comparable experience, as established by the State Department of Education. The school board of any local school district shall be authorized to designate a personnel supervisor or another principal employed by the school district to accept the recommendations of principals or their designees for licensed employees or noninstructional employees and to transmit approved recommendations to the local school board; however, this authorization shall be restricted to no more than two (2) positions for each employment period for each school in the local school district.
When the licensed employees have been elected as provided in the preceding paragraph, the superintendent of the district shall enter into a contract with such persons in the manner provided in this chapter.
If, at the commencement of the scholastic year, any licensed employee shall present to the superintendent a license of a higher grade than that specified in such individual's contract, such individual may, if funds are available from adequate education program funds of the district, or from district funds, be paid from such funds the amount to which such higher grade license would have entitled the individual, had the license been held at the time the contract was executed.
(2) Superintendents/directors of schools under the purview of the State Board of Education, the superintendent of the local school district and any private firm under contract with the local public school district to provide substitute teachers to teach during the absence of a regularly employed schoolteacher shall require, through the appropriate governmental authority, that current criminal records background checks and current child abuse registry checks are obtained, and that such criminal record information and registry checks are on file for any new hires applying for employment as a licensed or nonlicensed employee at a school and not previously employed in such school under the purview of the State Board of Education or at such local school district prior to July 1, 2000. In order to determine the applicant's suitability for employment, the applicant shall be fingerprinted. If no disqualifying record is identified at the state level, the fingerprints shall be forwarded by the Department of Public Safety to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history record check. The fee for such fingerprinting and criminal history record check shall be paid by the applicant, not to exceed Fifty Dollars ($50.00); however, the State Board of Education, the school board of the local school district or a private firm under contract with a local school district to provide substitute teachers to teach during the temporary absence of the regularly employed schoolteacher, in its discretion, may elect to pay the fee for the fingerprinting and criminal history record check on behalf of any applicant. Under no circumstances shall a member of the State Board of Education, superintendent/director of schools under the purview of the State Board of Education, local school district superintendent, local school board member or any individual other than the subject of the criminal history record checks disseminate information received through any such checks except insofar as required to fulfill the purposes of this section. Any nonpublic school which is accredited or approved by the State Board of Education may avail itself of the procedures provided for herein and shall be responsible for the same fee charged in the case of local public schools of this state. The determination whether the applicant has a disqualifying crime, as set forth in subsection (3) of this section, shall be made by the appropriate governmental authority, and the appropriate governmental authority shall notify the private firm whether a disqualifying crime exists.
(3) If such fingerprinting or criminal record checks disclose a felony conviction, guilty plea or plea of nolo contendere to a felony of possession or sale of drugs, murder, manslaughter, armed robbery, rape, sexual battery, sex offense listed in Section 45-33-23(g), child abuse, arson, grand larceny, burglary, gratification of lust or aggravated assault which has not been reversed on appeal or for which a pardon has not been granted, the new hire shall not be eligible to be employed at such school. Any employment contract for a new hire executed by the superintendent of the local school district or any employment of a new hire by a superintendent/director of a new school under the purview of the State Board of Education or by a private firm shall be voidable if the new hire receives a disqualifying criminal record check. However, the State Board of Education or the school board may, in its discretion, allow any applicant aggrieved by the employment decision under this section to appear before the respective board, or before a hearing officer designated for such purpose, to show mitigating circumstances which may exist and allow the new hire to be employed at the school. The State Board of Education or local school board may grant waivers for such mitigating circumstances, which shall include, but not be limited to: (a) age at which the crime was committed; (b) circumstances surrounding the crime; (c) length of time since the conviction and criminal history since the conviction; (d) work history; (e) current employment and character references; (f) other evidence demonstrating the ability of the person to perform the employment responsibilities competently and that the person does not pose a threat to the health or safety of the children at the school.
(4) No local school district, local school district employee, member of the State Board of Education or employee of a school under the purview of the State Board of Education shall be held liable in any employment discrimination suit in which an allegation of discrimination is made regarding an employment decision authorized under this Section 37-9-17.
(5) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any school that is being transformed into a new start school under the direction of the Mississippi Recovery School District.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2010.
