Bill Text: MS HB39 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: ESA for students with special needs; remove waitlist requirement.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-10 - Referred To Education;Appropriations A [HB39 Detail]

Download: Mississippi-2025-HB39-Introduced.html

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MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2025 Regular Session

To: Education; Appropriations A

By: Representative Currie

House Bill 39

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-181-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE WAITLIST REQUIREMENT FOR STUDENTS ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE AN EDUCATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP ACCOUNT UNDER THE "EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS ACT"; TO PROVIDE THAT, SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION, EACH STUDENT'S ESA SHALL BE FUNDED AT THE STUDENT BASE AMOUNT AS DETERMINED UNDER THE "MISSISSIPPI STUDENT FUNDING FORMULA"; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

     SECTION 1.  Section 37-181-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     37-181-7.  (1)  New enrollment in the ESA program created in this chapter shall be * * *limited to five hundred (500) additional students each year available to all eligible students, as defined in Section 37-181-3.  Subject to appropriation from the General Fund, each student's ESA shall be funded at * * *Six Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($6,500.00) for school year 2015‑2016 the student base amount as determined under Section 37-151-203 for the 2025-2026 school year * * *.  For each subsequent year, this amount, and shall increase or decrease by the same proportion as the student base amount * * *under Section 37‑151‑203 is increased or decreased for each subsequent year.

     (2)  Subject to appropriation, eligible students shall be approved for participation in the ESA program as follows:

          (a)  Students shall be approved on a first-come, first-served basis, with applications being reviewed on a rolling basis; and

 * * *(b)  After participation reaches fifty percent (50%) of the annual enrollment limits in subsection (1) of this section, the department shall set annual application deadlines for the remaining number of available ESAs and begin to maintain a waiting list of eligible students.  The waitlist shall only include eligible students who have certified to the department that they have been accepted into an eligible school qualified to provide services for the participating student's disability or special education needs, or provide services addressing a participating student's IEP.  The waitlist will be maintained in the chronological order in which applications are received.  The department shall award ESA program applications in chronological order according to the waitlist; and

          ( * * *cb)  Participating students who remain eligible for the ESA program are automatically approved for participation for the following year * * * and are not subject to the random selection process.

     (3)  No funds for an ESA may be expended from the total funding formula funds provided in this chapter, nor shall any school district be required to provide funding for an ESA.

     SECTION 2.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2025.

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