Bill Text: MS HB526 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Internet in schools; require State Board of Education to adopt safety and usage policy.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Failed) 2010-02-02 - Died In Committee [HB526 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2010-HB526-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2010 Regular Session
To: Education
By: Representative Evans (91st)
House Bill 526
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-1-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A POLICY RELATING TO INTERNET SAFETY INSTRUCTION AND ACCEPTABLE USAGE FOR EMPLOYEES AND STUDENTS IN GRADES K-12; TO REQUIRE NONPUBLIC SCHOOLS THAT ACCEPT FEDERAL FUNDS FOR INTERNET ACCESS TO USE AN INTERNET FILTERING TECHNOLOGY TO BLOCK CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND OBSCENITY ON COMPUTERS HAVING INTERNET ACCESS IN THOSE SCHOOLS; 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 those functions. The 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 schools 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) * * * 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.
(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. The 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 those 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.
(5) Before July 1, 2010, the State Board of Education shall adopt a policy relating to appropriate safety instruction in Grades K-12 for use of the international network of computer systems commonly known as the Internet, which policy must be in effect beginning with the 2010-2011 school year. At a minimum, the policy shall contain provisions that:
(a) Are designed to prohibit use of school computer equipment and communications services by public school employees and students for sending, receiving, viewing or downloading illegal material via the Internet;
(b) Seek to prevent access by students to material that the school deems to be harmful to juveniles;
(c) Select a technology for the public school's computers that have Internet access to filter or block Internet access through school computers to child pornography and obscenity, as defined in applicable law;
(d) Establish appropriate measures to be taken against persons who violate the policy; and
(e) Include a component on Internet safety for students that is integrated in the school's instructional program.
The policy may include any other terms, conditions and requirements as deemed appropriate, such as requiring written parental authorization for Internet use by juveniles or differentiating acceptable uses among elementary, middle and high school students. The State Superintendent of Public Education shall take any steps that he deems appropriate to implement and enforce the board's policy. Before December 1, 2010, and biennially thereafter, the State Superintendent of Public Education shall submit a report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education that summarizes the acceptable Internet use policy and the impact of the policy on local school districts. The State Superintendent of Public Education shall issue a memorandum advising school districts of the provisions of this subsection and encouraging cooperation with local law-enforcement agencies in its implementation.
SECTION 2. The principal or chief administrator of any nonpublic school, as defined under the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law (Section 37-13-91), that accepts federal funds for Internet access must employ a technology to filter or block Internet access to child pornography and obscenity, as defined in applicable law, for the computers in the school having Internet access.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
