Bill Text: MS SB2794 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Public schools; allow to offer online career track program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2021-02-02 - Died In Committee [SB2794 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2021-SB2794-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2021 Regular Session
To: Education; Appropriations
By: Senator(s) Johnson
Senate Bill 2794
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-16-17, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO OFFER ONLINE CAREER TRACK PROGRAMS; TO PROVIDE FOR THE ENROLLMENT POLICY, FUNDING FORMULA AND ACCOUNTABILITY REPORTING FOR THESE PROGRAMS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 37-16-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-16-17. (1) Purpose. (a) The purpose of this section is to create a quality option in Mississippi's high schools for students not wishing to pursue a baccalaureate degree, which shall consist of challenging academic courses and modern career-technical studies. The goal for students pursuing the career track is to graduate from high school with a standard diploma and credit toward a community college certification in a career-technical field. These students also shall be encouraged to take the national assessment in the career-technical field in which they become certified.
(b) The State Board of Education shall develop and adopt course and curriculum requirements for career track programs offered by local public school boards in accordance with this section. The Mississippi Community College Board and the State Board of Education jointly shall determine course and curriculum requirements for the career track program.
(2) Alternative career track; description; curriculum. (a) A career track shall provide a student with greater technical skill and a strong academic core and shall be offered to each high school student enrolled in a public school district. The career track program shall be linked to postsecondary options and shall prepare students to pursue either a degree or certification from a postsecondary institution, an industry-based training or certification, an apprenticeship, the military, or immediate entrance into a career field. The career track shall be designed primarily for those students who are not college bound and shall provide them with alternatives to entrance into a four-year university or college after high school graduation.
(b) Students pursuing a career track shall be afforded the opportunity to dually enroll in a community or technical college or to participate in a business internship or work-study program, when such opportunities are available and appropriate.
(c) Each public school district shall offer a career track program approved by the State Board of Education.
(d) Students in a career track program shall complete an academic core of courses and a career and technical sequence of courses.
(e) The twenty-one (21) course unit requirements for the career track shall consist of the following:
(i) At least four (4) English credits, including English I and English II.
(ii) At least three (3) mathematics credits, including Algebra I.
(iii) At least three (3) science credits, including one (1) unit of biology.
(iv) At least three (3) social studies credits, including one (1) unit of U.S. History and one (1) unit of Mississippi Studies/U.S. Government.
(v) At least one-half (1/2) credit in health or physical education.
(vi) At least four (4) credits in career and technical education courses in the dual enrollment-dual credit programs authorized under Section 37-15-38.
(vii) At least one (1) credit in integrated technology with optional end of course testing.
(viii) At least two and one-half (2-1/2) credits in additional electives or career and technical education courses required by the local school board, as approved by the State Board of Education. Academic courses within the career track of the standard diploma shall provide the knowledge and skill necessary for proficiency on the state subject area tests.
(3) Nothing in this section shall disallow the development of a dual enrollment program with a technical college so long as an individual school district, with approval from the State Department of Education, agrees to implement such a program in connection with a technical college and the agreement is also approved by the proprietary school's commission.
(4) * * * (a) The
purpose of this subsection is to create greater equity in the availability and
access to career-readiness education in Mississippi through leveraging
technology and the innovative leadership of Mississippi public school
districts.
(b) A public school district may offer an online career track program and, at the option of that public school district and notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, allow Mississippi students from outside its service area to enroll in the online career track program. If a public school district operating an online career track program chooses to allow students from outside its service area to enroll, that district shall adopt a policy governing the enrollment procedures by June 1 of the year in which enrollment will be accepted. The enrollment policy shall minimally include:
(i) The timeframe in which nondistrict student applications will be accepted for both the fall and spring semesters;
(ii) Provision of notice of the application to the resident district of the applicant student within five (5) days of receipt of the application;
(iii) The operation of a lottery if more nonresident students apply than can be accommodated by the program;
(iv) Any requirements or prerequisites for acceptance into any specific career track program;
(v) An opportunity for parental input and hearing prior to any denial of an application for any reason other than lack of program capacity; and
(vi) Engagement policies and a process with provision of fair warnings and opportunities for corrective actions prior to removal from the program for lack of engagement.
(c) For students enrolling in an online career track program operated by a school district in which the student does not reside, the Department of Education shall pay to the school district operating the program an amount as follows: the pro rata ad valorem receipts and in-lieu payments per pupil for the support of the local school district in which the student resides under Sections 37-57-1 and 37-57-105, however, not including any taxes levied for the retirement of the local school district's bonded indebtedness or short-term notes or any taxes levied for the support of vocational-technical education programs. The amount of funds payable to the school district operating the program by the resident school district must be based on the previous year's enrollment data and ad valorem receipts and in-lieu receipts of the local school district in which the student resides. The pro rata amount must be calculated by dividing the resident local school district's months one (1) through nine (9) average daily membership into the total amount of ad valorem receipts and in-lieu receipts, as reported to the Department of Education by the resident local school district. The payable amount from the resident district to the district operating the program shall be equal to this pro rata amount multiplied by the number of students enrolled in the online career track program, based on the end of first month enrollment for the current school year. The Department of Education shall reduce the resident school district's January transfer of Mississippi Adequate Education Program funds by the amount owed to the district operating the online career track program and shall redirect that amount to that district. Any such payments made under this subsection (4) by the Department of Education to a district accepting nonresident students in an online career track program must be made at the same time and in the same manner as adequate education program payments are made to school districts under Sections 37-151-101 and 37-151-103.
(d) For purposes of all accountability reporting, the Department of Education shall include any student who enrolls under this subsection with the data and reporting for the public school district which operates the online career track program.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2021.
