Past House Bills

Creates a five-year pilot program to implement Education Scholarship Accounts (ESA).

Definitions

Eligible student – any student who has had an active Individualized Education Program (IEP) within the last 18 months.

Eligible school – a non-public school that has enrolled a participating student. The school must be accredited by a state or regional accrediting agency or possess a provisional letter of accreditation from a state or regional accrediting agency or be approved/licensed by the State Department of Education. A home school is not an eligible school.

Tutor – person who is certified or licensed by a state, regional, or national certification or licensing organization or who has earned a valid teacher’s license or who has experience teaching at an eligible postsecondary institution (community college, college, university) accredited by a state, regional or national accrediting organization.

Education service provider – an eligible school, tutor, or other person or organization that provides education-related services and products to participating students.

Student Eligibility

An eligible student may participate if parent or guardian signs an agreement promising:

• To provide an organized, appropriate education program with measurable annual goals and, to the extent deemed reasonable by the parent, to provide an education to the student in at least the subjects of reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies, and science;
• Not to enroll the participating student in a public school and to acknowledge that the school district of residence has provided clear notice that the participating student has no individual entitlement to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) from the district of residence, including special education services, as long as the student is participating;
• Not to home school the student;
• Not to participate in the Mississippi Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship or the Mississippi Speech-Language Therapy Scholarship while participating in the ESA program.

Participating students remain eligible until the student returns to public school, completes high school, or completes the school year in which the student reaches the age of 21.

Every three years after initial enrollment, parents of students who are not diagnosed with a permanent disability must verify that the student continues to have a diagnosis of a disability.

A student may return to his school district of residence at any time, after which the student’s ESA shall be closed and unused funds returned to the General Fund.

Allowable Voucher Expenditures

Parents shall use the funds for the following qualifying expenses:

• Tuition and/or fees at a private, for-profit, or virtual school;
• Textbooks;
• Payment to a tutor;
• Purchase of a curriculum and supplemental materials required by the curriculum;
• Fees for transportation to and from an educational service provider paid to a fee-forservice transportation provider;
• Fees for nationally standardized, norm-referenced achievement tests and alternate assessments, Advanced Placement exams or similar courses, and college entry exams;
• Educational services or therapies from a licensed or certified practitioner, provider, paraprofessional, or aide;
• Services, classes, or extra-curricular programs provided by a public school;
• Tuition and fees at a community college, college, or university;
• Textbooks for coursework at a community college, college, or university;
• Surety bond payments;
• Up to $50 in annual consumable school supplies for classes, therapies, or tutoring;
• Computer hardware and software, and other technological devices;
• May be used out of state if parent deems appropriate and if closest in-state school that parent deems appropriate is more than 30 miles from residence.

Any funds remaining in the student’s ESA after high school graduation may be used for college tuition until the student graduates from college. The ESA account will be closed after college graduation or after four consecutive years following high school graduation without the student being enrolled in a postsecondary institution.

Amount and Type of Voucher

Subject to appropriation, each student’s ESA shall be $6,500 for 2015-16 and in subsequent years, shall be increased or decreased by the same proportion as the MAEP base student cost is increased or decreased.

Unexpended amounts shall roll over to the following year, be combined with the funds for the following year, and be allowed to accumulate. Following graduation, accumulated funds may be used to pay college tuition. (Note: the fully funded base student cost for 2015-16 is $5,355. Voucher students would get the fully funded MAEP Base Student Cost plus $1,145, even in years when public school students do not receive full funding.)

Payments shall be made to ESA accounts quarterly unless there is evidence of misuse of funds.

Voucher School Eligibility

A participating voucher school shall not be required to alter its admission practices, creed, discipline policies, practices, services, or curriculum; voucher schools may pick and choose the students they wish to admit.

Voucher schools are not required to provide special services or meet any of the needs stipulated in the student’s IEP.

Voucher schools must:

• Comply with federal nondiscrimination policies and health and safety laws that apply to non-public schools
• Provide parents with details of the school’s programs and capacity to serve students with special needs (the schools, however, are not required to provide services to students with special needs in order to receive voucher payments);
• Have no public record of fraud;
• Offer participating students the option of taking a nationally standardized, normreferenced test;
• Conduct criminal background checks on employees;
• Exclude from employment persons not permitted by state law to work in a non-public school and those who might pose a threat to the safety of students.

The identities of voucher schools shall not be revealed; taxpayers will not know which private, forprofit, or virtual schools are receiving taxpayer dollars.

Accountability

Participating voucher schools shall not be required to participate in the state assessments or the accountability rating system required of public schools and may not be subjected to any oversight or regulation by any government agency, including the Mississippi Department of Education.

All reports of student and parent satisfaction with the ESA program, test scores on optional achievement tests, graduation and college acceptance rates, etc., are to be reported on a statewide basis. Parents will be given no means of comparing student outcomes in a voucher school to student outcomes in other voucher schools or in public schools.

Beginning in 2018 and every two years thereafter, the Committee on Performance Evaluation Expenditure and Review (PEER) shall prepare a report assessing the sufficiency of funding for ESAs and recommend changes needed to improve the program. The report shall assess:

• Student and parental satisfaction with the program;
• Student performance on norm-referenced standardized achievement tests for students whose parents request that their students be tested;
• Student performance on Advanced Placement or similar exams and college entrance tests;
• High school graduation rates and college acceptance rates of participating students (Note: only acceptance rates are to be reported, not the percent of all voucher students being admitted to college, and voucher schools may set their own standards for awarding of high school diplomas)
• The percent of funds used for each qualifying expense;
• The fiscal impact to the state and the district of residence, including impact on revenue and impact on expenses.

The PEER report must protect the identities of participating voucher schools and students by keeping anonymous all disaggregated data (i.e., the report may not identify which voucher schools have higher test scores or satisfaction rates and which have lower scores). Publicity and Application Process The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) must annually notify all students with IEPs of the existence of the program. MDE shall begin receiving applications on July 1, 2015. ESAs shall be limited to 500 students in the 2015-16 school year and shall grow by 500 students for each year thereafter. Voucher students shall be approved on a first-come, first-served basis until participation reaches 50% of annual enrollment. After 50% participation is reached, the MDE shall set annual application deadlines for remaining applicants and maintain a waiting list. If the number of applicants exceeds available slots, a random selection process shall be used with priority given to students with active IEPs. Participating students who remain eligible for the following year are automatically approved and are not subject to random selection. MDE shall make a determination of eligibility and approve the application within 21 business days of receiving the application. The school district of residence must provide participating student’s parent with a complete copy of the student’s records within 30 days. Program Administration MDE may deduct up to 6% of the ESA appropriation for administrative costs. The Dept. of Finance and Administration may deduct up to 1% from appropriated amounts to cover the cost of providing ESA cards. The Mississippi Board of Education may contract with a nonprofit organization to administer the program. MDE shall adopt rules and policies for administering the program and shall conduct or contract for random audits throughout the year. MDE shall establish or contract for a fraud reporting hotline and may require a surety bond for parents of participating students. If funds are misspent, the parent shall be required to provide additional documentation justifying the expenditure or repay the misspent amount within 15 days. If neither is done, the MDE shall begin a process to remove the ESA from the student and may refer the case to law enforcement. If the parent repays the amount, the offense is recorded in the student’s file. Three offenses in three consecutive years shall disqualify the student from the program. Source: Mississippi Legislature (http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2015/pdf/history/HB/HB0394.xml)

Prohibits school board members, superintendents, administrators, teachers, and staff from lobbying the Legislature for policy change or attempting to influence the outcome of any candidate, political party, or issue during an election; any violation of this act will result in a misdemeanor offense with a fine of up to $10,000.

Definitions

Political activity – any efforts to support or oppose any political party, philosophy, or issue in an election, campaigning on behalf of a specific candidate or issue, or lobbying the Legislature for policy change.

School facilities – any buildings and grounds owned, operated, controlled, or maintained by the school board, including, but not limited to, schools, ancillary facilities, athletic facilities, and office complexes.

Political events – any and all meetings, fundraisers, gatherings, or other events organized or conducted for the purpose of supporting or opposing any candidate for public office, any issue which is or may be scheduled to appear on an election ballot, or any political party or organization.

Prohibitions

School board members, superintendents, administrators, teachers, and staff members are prohibited from:

• Using school district time, property, equipment, supplies, or personnel to
  • produce, distribute, or communicate information in support or opposition of any political party, philosophy, or issue in an election or to attempt to affect the outcome of such
  • campaign on behalf of a specific candidate or issue
  • lobby the Legislature for policy change
• Using his or her official position to
  • influence or attempt to influence district personnel to support or oppose any political party, philosophy, or issue in an election
  • campaign on behalf of a specific candidate or issue
  • lobby the Legislature for policy change
  • conduct any form of advocacy or opposition in a classroom or school setting, or school related employment relationship
• Soliciting or attempting to solicit funds from school district personnel on behalf of a candidate, party or issue, or campaign or lobbying effort

The following forms of political activity are prohibited at all times on school property:

• Distribution of campaign materials
• Display of political signs (the prohibition excludes advertising on clothing and items permanently affixed to vehicles)
• Solicitation of students or employees to become engaged in political activity

Further Prohibitions for Superintendents and School Board Members

School superintendents and school board members are prohibited, whether or not they are acting in an official or personal capacity or on school or personal property, from publicly supporting or opposing any political party, philosophy, or issue in an election, campaigning on behalf of a specific candidate (other than his or her own campaign) or issue, or lobbying the Legislature for policy change.

Rights and Obligations of Citizenship

School board members, superintendents, administrators, teachers, and staff members retain their rights and obligations as citizens, except those prohibited in the act.

Employees (excluding superintendents and board members) of school districts retain their rights to actively participate in political activities on behalf of any candidate, political party, or issue outside of scheduled hours of school operations or during authorized personal or vacation leave and without using school property, equipment, supplies, or personnel; these rights do not extend to soliciting funds from or attempting to coerce other school district personnel on behalf of any candidate, political party, or issue.

Punishment for Violations

Any person who violates any terms of the act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall be fined up to $10,000. A second conviction within two years will result in revocation of professional license and certification by the State Board of Education.

Source Mississippi Legislature

Note from The Parents’ Campaign Research and Education Fund – the Education Leadership Policy Standards, as adopted by the National Policy Board for Education Administration and the Mississippi Board of Education, include as Standard #6:

An education leader promotes the success of every student by understanding, responding to, and influencing the political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context.

1. Advocate for children, families, and caregivers
2. Act to influence local, district, state, and national decisions affecting student learning
3. Assess, analyze, and anticipate emerging trends and initiatives in order to adapt leadership strategies

Source Council of Chief State School Officers

Requires funding for special education to be appropriated to school districts as a separate line item, establishes a position of coordinator of Autism Spectrum Disorder services in the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE), and creates the Children with Special Needs Fund to provide financial assistance to families of children with disabilities.

Special Education Funding

Beginning with the appropriation for Fiscal Year 2016, funding for special education will be removed from the add-on portion of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) and shall be appropriated to the State Board of Education as a separate line item in the K-12 general support appropriations bill. Special education funds shall be allocated by the State Board of Education to school districts as follows:

• -For each teacher employed by a district in a program for exceptional children, an amount equal to 100% of the adequate education program salary schedule, based on the type of license and number of years’ teaching experience held by each teacher, plus 100% of the employer’s rate for social security and contributions to the state retirement system.

Statewide Autism Coordinator

MDE shall employ within the Office of Special Education a coordinator of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) services. The coordinator will work in cooperation with the Autism Advisory Committee to develop and implement public education policies related to ASD. Duties will include oversight of ASD services in public schools and coordination with the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services, and other state agencies on ASD services.

Financial Assistance for Families of Children with Special Needs

The Children with Special Needs Fund, to be administered by the Mississippi Department of Health, is established for the purpose of helping families of children with special needs defray the costs of therapies, services, and equipment, with certain limitations.

Definitions

Special needs – the needs of a child who has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) through a public school district in Mississippi or a diagnosis of dyslexia by a licensed professional.

Services – special education services provided in Mississippi schools under state law or under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and clinical or therapeutic services provided by licensed professionals.

Dyslexia – a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin, characterized by difficulties with accurate and fluent word recognition and poor spelling and decoding abilities, which typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language which is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction, and further characterized by secondary consequences that may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience, which can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

Eligibility

To be eligible for assistance from the Children with Special Needs fund, a child must

• Be in the age range of three through 21 years
• Have a parent or legal guardian who is a lawful resident of the State of Mississippi
• Possess an IEP through a Mississippi school district or a diagnosis of dyslexia from a licensed professional

Eligible children may enrolled in a public, private, or home school in Mississippi.

To apply for assistance from the fund, families must

• Follow the guidelines and application process established by the Mississippi Department of Health in cooperation with the state Special Education Advisory Panel
• Adhere to household income limitations as follows
  • Families with a household income over 400% of the federal poverty level may apply annually for assistance not exceeding $1,000
  • Families with a household income over 300% but not more than 400% of the federal poverty level may apply annually for assistance not exceeding $2,000
  • Families with a household income over 200% but not more than 300% of the federal poverty level may apply annually for assistance not exceeding $3,000
  • Families with a household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level may apply annually for assistance not exceeding $4,000

No less than 50% of the fund’s annual appropriation shall be reserved for applicants who are at or below 400% of the federal poverty level.

Allowable uses

The Children with Special Needs Fund can help defray the costs of therapies, services, and equipment for a child with special needs as follows:

• As a supplement to services provided within the school setting under state law or IDEA
• For clinical or therapeutic services and equipment that are not allowed under IDEA but which are prescribed and provided by a licensed professional
  • Behavioral, occupational, physical, speech, art, and music therapies
  • Therapeutic and life skills equipment and technology not covered by private insurance or Medicaid but prescribed by a licensed therapist or physician
• For respite care, special purpose programs and camps, private tutoring, and assistive technology
  • In-home or out-of-home respite care
  • Special purpose enrichment programs and camps that support the child’s special needs
  • Private tutoring
  • Assistive technology software and hardware which is not covered by private insurance or Medicaid but prescribed by a licensed therapist or physician
• Tuition and fees to private, parochial, or other non-public schools are not allowable expenditures

Administration and Oversight

The Mississippi Department of Health, in cooperation with the Mississippi Special Education Advisory Panel, will develop application procedures and guidelines for administration and distribution of monies from the fund.

The Office of the State Auditor shall be responsible for oversight of the fund’s operations and shall submit annually a report to the Legislature which includes a detailed listing of services and equipment provided to participants and demographic data such as number of children served by age, school district, school type, household size, and household income range, and the number of children served by each public and private provider of therapies or equipment.

Source Mississippi Legislature (http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2015/pdf/history/HB/HB0814.xml)