Bill Text: MS HB1466 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

Mississippi House Bill 1466 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: School districts; require consolidation into countywide districts if county's population less than 80,000.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Failed) 2010-02-02 - Died In Committee [HB1466 Detail]

Download: Mississippi-2010-HB1466-Introduced.html

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2010 Regular Session

To: Education; Appropriations

By: Representative Johnson

House Bill 1466

AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE ADMINISTRATIVE REORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN COUNTIES HAVING A POPULATION OF LESS THAN 80,000 INTO COUNTYWIDE DISTRICTS WITH COUNTYWIDE JURISDICTION; TO PROVIDE THAT FROM AND AFTER JULY 1, 2011, ALL MUNICIPAL SEPARATE, CONSOLIDATED, LINE CONSOLIDATED AND SPECIAL MUNICIPAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THOSE COUNTIES SHALL BE ABOLISHED AND MERGED INTO A COUNTYWIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT WITH ONE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION AND ONE APPOINTED COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION; TO DIRECT THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO PUBLISH A CONSOLIDATION LIST OF THE DISTRICTS AFFECTED IN ORDER TO CREATE A COUNTYWIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT IN THOSE COUNTIES AND TO REQUIRE ALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO COMPLY WITH ADMINISTRATIVE CONSOLIDATION ORDERS ISSUED BY THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION; TO PROVIDE FOR THE TRANSFER OF REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY OF AFFECTED SCHOOL DISTRICTS; TO PROVIDE FOR EMPLOYEE CONTRACTS IN SCHOOL DISTRICTS SUBJECT TO ADMINISTRATIVE CONSOLIDATION; TO PROVIDE FOR THE DUTY TO PAY THE OUTSTANDING DEBT OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS AFFECTED BY THE CONSOLIDATION; TO PROVIDE THAT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CONSOLIDATION SHALL NOT REQUIRE THE CLOSING OF ANY SCHOOL OR FACILITY; TO PROVIDE FOR THE RULEMAKING AUTHORITY OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION REGARDING THE CONSOLIDATION AND THE SUBMISSION OF THE CONSOLIDATION TO THE UNITED STATES JUSTICE DEPARTMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, from and after July 1, 2011, each county in the State of Mississippi with a population of less than eighty thousand (80,000), according to the most recent federal decennial census, shall constitute a school district and shall be known as the "School District of _______________ County, Mississippi." In those counties, each school district shall constitute a unit for the control, organization and administration of schools. The responsibility for the actual operation and administration of all schools within those districts in conformity with rules and minimum standards prescribed by the state, and also the responsibility for the provision of any desirable and practicable opportunities authorized by law beyond those required by the state, are delegated by law to the members of the county boards of education, with an appointed county superintendent of education as executive officer for the board.

(2) For purposes of this section, the term "administrative consolidation" means the joining of two (2) or more school districts to create a new single school district in the county with one (1) administrative unit, one (1) school board and one (1) school superintendent, and that is not required to close school facilities. An administratively consolidated school district may not have more than one (1) superintendent of schools. Before February 1, 2011, the State Department of Education must publish a consolidation list that includes all school districts in the state that are not countywide school districts embracing an entire county and that are situated in a county having a population of less than eighty thousand (80,000), according to the most recent federal decennial census. In those counties, the county board of education shall provide for the administrative consolidation of all school districts in the county into one (1) countywide school district embracing the entire county before July 1, 2011. Any school district on the consolidation list that does not voluntarily consolidate with the countywide school district shall be administratively consolidated by the State Board of Education with the countywide school district in which that district is located before June 1, 2011, to be effective on July 1, 2011. The State Board of Education shall promptly move on its own motion to administratively consolidate a school district on the consolidation list in order to enable the affected school districts to reasonably accomplish the resulting administrative consolidation into a countywide school district before July 1, 2011. All school districts on the consolidation list must comply with any consolidation order issued by the county board of education or the State Board of Education, as the case may be, before July 1, 2011.

(3) (a) On July 1, 2011, the board of trustees of any municipal separate, special municipal separate, consolidated or line consolidated school district on the administrative consolidation list issued by the State Board of Education shall be abolished. All real and personal property owned or titled in the name of a school district on the administrative consolidation list shall be transferred to the countywide school district of the county in which that school district is located. If a school district is located in two (2) or more counties, the State Board of Education shall issue an order directing the transfer of real and personal property to the appropriate school district.

(b) Each school board shall be responsible for establishing the contracts for teachers and principals for the next school year with the consultation of the newly elected successor county board of education.

(c) The selection of the county superintendent of education in the successor countywide school district shall be the responsibility of the successor county board of education.

(d) The successor county board of education shall prepare and approve the budget of the new countywide district, and the county board of education may use staff from the existing districts to prepare the budget.

(e) Any proposed order of a county board of education directing the transfer of the assets or real or personal property of a school district on the administrative consolidation list must be submitted and approved by the State Board of Education. The determination of the State Board of Education shall be final and conclusive for the purposes of the transfer of property required by an administrative consolidation.

(f) Any person or school district aggrieved by an order of a school board adopted under the requirements of this section may appeal to the State Board of Education within ten (10) days from the date of the adjournment of the meeting at which the order is entered. The appeal shall be de novo, and the findings of the State Board of Education upon that question shall be final and conclusive for the purpose of the approval or disapproval of the action by the board.

(g) Any special municipal school district embracing the territory of an entire county shall be abolished on July 1, 2011, and reconstituted as a countywide school district with a county board of education.

(4) When any school district on the administrative consolidation list issued by the State Board of Education is abolished under this section, the abolition shall not impair or release the property of that school district from liability for the payment of the bonds or other indebtedness of the district. It shall be the duty of the board of supervisors of the county to levy taxes on the property of the abolished district from year to year according to the terms of the indebtedness until same shall be fully paid.

(5) This section shall not be construed to require the closing of any school or school facility, unless the facility is an unneeded administrative office. All administrative consolidations under this section shall be accomplished so as not to delay or in any manner negatively affect the desegregation of another school district in the county under court order.

(6) In any administratively consolidated countywide school district created under this section, the ad valorem tax rate shall be determined as set forth under Sections 37-57-1 through 37-57-133. No school district administratively consolidated with a school district designated by the State Board of Education as being in academic or fiscal distress or under state conservatorship shall be subject to academic or fiscal distress sanctions for a period of three (3) years from the effective date of the required administrative consolidation.

(7) The State Board of Education shall promulgate rules and regulations to facilitate the administrative consolidation of school districts required under this section. When the order of each successor county board of education adopting the boundaries of the successor countywide school district has been entered and is final, as approved by the State Board of Education, the new district lines shall be submitted by the State Board of Education, with the assistance of the Attorney General, to the Attorney General of the United States for preclearance or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for a declaratory judgment in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended. If the changes in the school district lines are precleared or approved, the State Board of Education formally shall declare the new lines as the new boundaries of the countywide school districts.

SECTION 2. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this act, immediately upon approval by the Governor, or upon approval by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the date it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.