MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2017 Regular Session
To: Education
By: Senator(s) Hill, Barnett, Blackwell, Chassaniol, Dearing, Fillingane, Harkins, Hudson, Jackson (11th), Jolly, Kirby, Massey, McDaniel, Parker, Seymour, Turner-Ford, Watson, Witherspoon, Younger
AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO ENSURE INSTRUCTION IN CURSIVE WRITING AS A PART OF THE BASIC ELEMENTARY EDUCATION CURRICULUM; TO EXEMPT THE MISSISSIPPI SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND AND THE MISSISSIPPI SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF FROM THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The State Board of Education is authorized and directed to require all public school districts to meet the following elementary education curriculum standard: The standard course of study shall include the requirement that the public schools provide instruction in cursive reading and writing, implemented across the curriculum, so that students create readable documents through legible cursive handwriting by the end of the fifth grade, and that students pass with proficiency a teacher-constructed test demonstrating the students competency in both reading and writing cursive. This requirement shall be applicable beginning with the 2018-2019 school year. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to the Mississippi School for the Blind and the Mississippi School for the Deaf.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2017.