Mississippi

Mississippi law allows the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board to approve a maximum of 15 qualified charter applications during a fiscal year.

Mississippi law allows new start-ups and public school conversions.

Mississippi law provides that applicants in districts rated “D” or “F” may apply directly to the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board. It also provides that in any school district rated "A," "B" or "C", the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board may authorize charter schools only if a majority of the members of the local school board votes at a public meeting to endorse the application or to initiate the application on its own initiative..

Before October 1 of each year, beginning in the year that the state has had at least one charter school operating for a full school year, the law requires the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board to issue to the Governor, Legislature, State Board of Education, and the public an annual report on the state's charter schools for the preceding school year. The law provides that the report must include a comparison of the performance of charter school students with the performance of academically, ethnically and economically comparable groups of students in the school district in which a charter school is located. In addition, the law provides that the report must include the authorizer's assessment of the successes, challenges, and areas for improvement in meeting the purposes of this act. The law provides that the report also must include an assessment on whether the number and size of operating charter schools are sufficient to meet demand, as calculated according to admissions data and the number of students denied enrollment based on lottery results.
The law requires the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review to prepare an annual report assessing the sufficiency of funding for charter schools, the efficacy of the state formula for authorizer funding, and any suggested changes in state law or policy necessary to strengthen the state's charter schools.

The ability of the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board to continue authorizing can be removed by the legislature and the governor (the entities that gave it that authority).

To cover the costs of overseeing charter schools in accordance with this act, the law provides that the state authorizer shall receive 3% of annual per-pupil allocations received by a charter school from state and local funds for each charter school it authorizes.
While the law does not require the state authorizer to publicly report detailed authorizer expenditures, it does require the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review to prepare an annual report assessing the sufficiency of funding for charter schools, the efficacy of the state formula for authorizer funding, and any suggested changes in state law or policy necessary to strengthen the state's charter schools.

Statute requires application elements for all schools and additional elements for conversion schools, those using educational service providers, and replications.
Statute requires the state authorizer to issue requests for proposals and to conduct a thorough evaluation of each application including an in-person interview and public meeting. It also requires the state authorizer to make all charter approval or denial decisions in a public meeting and to state reasons for denials in writing.

Statute defines a charter contract to be a fixed term, renewable contract between a charter school board and an authorizer that outlines the roles, powers, responsibilities, and performance expectations for each party. It also requires such contracts to contain a performance framework that details the academic and operational performance indicators, including all those included in the model law.
The initial contract must be granted for a term of five years.

Statute requires that the state authorizer collect and analyze data to support ongoing evaluation according to the performance framework in the charter contract, including financial accountability.
State law provides the state authorizer with specific authority to conduct oversight activities needed to fulfill its responsibilities.

As part of its annual report to the legislature, the law requires the state authorizer to publish and provide a performance report for each charter school it oversees in accordance with the performance framework set forth in the charter contract. The law provides that report must be made available to the public at the same time as it is submitted to the legislature. The law allows the state authorizer to require each charter school it oversees to submit an annual report to assist the authorizer in gathering complete information about each school, consistent with the performance framework.

Statute requires the state authorizer to notify their schools of any perceived problems and provide them with reasonable opportunity for the school to remedy the problem.

Statute allows the state authorizer to take appropriate corrective actions short of revocation as needed.

Statute requires the state authorizer to issue school performance renewal reports and requires schools seeking renewal to apply for it using renewal application guidance provided by the state authorizer.
State law requires the state authorizer to have clear criteria for renewal and nonrenewal decisions and to base decisions on evidence in accordance with the performance framework set forth in the charter contract. The law provides that the state authorizer may not renew the charter of any charter school that, during the school's final operating year under the term of the charter contract, is designated an "F" school under the school accreditation rating system.

Statute requires charter contract renewals to be for five-year terms, although it allows the state authorizer to vary the terms based on the particular circumstances of a charter school.

State law requires the state authorizer to provide schools with timely notification of potential revocation and due process, including the requirement to conduct a public hearing. It requires all charter renewal, non-renewal, and revocation decisions be made in a public meeting, with the state authorizer stating reasons for non-renewals and revocations in writing.

Statute requires the state authorizer to develop a charter school termination protocol to ensure timely notification to parents, orderly transition of students and student records, and proper disposition of public funds, property, and assets.

The law provides that an educational service provider (ESP) that provides comprehensive management for a charter school must be a nonprofit education organization.
For those schools proposing to use such ESPs, state law requires them to include in their charter application evidence of the ESP’s success in serving student populations similar to their targeted population and evidence of past performance and their capacity for growth.

Within their application, statute requires them to provide a term sheet setting forth the proposed duration of the service contract, including things like the roles and responsibilities of the school board and the service provider, the scope of services, the performance evaluation measures and timelines, the compensation structure, the methods of contract oversight and performance, and the conditions for renewal and termination of the contract.

Statute provides that school governing boards operate as entities completely independent of any educational service provider.

Statute also requires applications to disclose and explain any existing or potential conflicts of interest between the charter school board and the proposed service provider.

Statute describes charter schools as independently managed public schools operated by qualified nonprofit organizations. It provides that such schools function as a local education agency and are governed by a board of directors appointed or selected under the terms of their charter application. It states that such boards have clear statutory authority to operate a fiscally and legally autonomous school, including things like receiving and disbursing funds and entering into contracts.

The law provides that charter schools must be open to any student residing in the geographical boundaries of the school district in which the charter school is located and any student who resides in the geographical boundaries of a school district that was rated "C," "D" or "F" at the time the charter school was approved by the authorizer board or who resides in the geographical boundaries of a school district rated "C," or "D" or "F" at the time the student enrolls.
The law provides anti-discrimination provisions regarding admissions.

It requires enrollment preferences for previously enrolled students within conversions, prior year students within chartered schools, and siblings of enrolled students enrolled at a charter school.
The law also requires that the underserved student composition of a charter school's enrollment collectively must reflect that of students of all ages attending the school district in which the charter school is located, to be defined as being at least 80% of that population. If the underserved student composition of an applicant's or charter school's enrollment is less than 80% of the enrollment of students of all ages in the school district in which the charter school is located, despite the school's best efforts, the law provides that the state authorizer must consider the applicant's or charter school's recruitment efforts and the underserved student composition of the applicant pool in determining whether the applicant or charter school is operating in a nondiscriminatory manner. It provides that a finding by the state authorizer that a charter school is operating in a discriminatory manner justifies the revocation of a charter. The law requires a charter school to give an enrollment preference to underserved children to ensure the charter school meets its required underserved student composition.
The law allows schools to provide an enrollment preference for children of a school’s founders, governing board members, and full-time employees, not exceeding 10% of the school’s total student population.
The law requires that students must be selected by lottery if more students apply than a school can accommodate.

The law provides exemptions from most laws, except those covering such items as health, safety, civil rights, student accountability, employee criminal history checks, open meetings, freedom of information, and generally accepted accounting principles.
The law provides that charter schools must comply with applicable federal laws, rules and regulations regarding the qualification of teachers and other instructional staff. It states that no more than 25% of teachers in a charter school may be exempt from state teacher licensure requirements. However, the law requires teachers to have a bachelor's degree as a minimum requirement and to have demonstrated subject-matter competency. Within three years of a teacher’s employment at a charter school, the law requires the teacher to have, at a minimum, alternative licensure approved by the Commission on Teacher and Administrator Education, Certification and Licensure and Development.

Mississippi law permits (but does not require) collective bargaining for non-charter public school teachers. Under Mississippi law, there are no items that are explicitly included or excluded from negotiations in teachers’ collective bargaining agreements.State law provides that charter schools are exempt from participation in state and school district personnel policies, and the statute’s silence on collective bargaining can be read to include collective bargaining in the definition of personnel policies.
Prior to the Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision, Mississippi state law prohibited unions from charging agency fees to non-union members of any collective bargaining unit. Therefore, the Supreme Court’s decision did not have any effect on unions in the state. There has not been any reactive legislation enacted.
The state’s labor law is also silent on the process for selecting or certifying an exclusive representative for a public agency’s bargaining unit, which presumably delegates this authority to local jurisdictions. Generally, courts have held that in states without laws or without comprehensive laws, public employers have the authority to grant recognition to public sector unions and to enter into legally enforceable collective bargaining agreements covering employees.

Statute provides that a single charter contract may govern one or more charter schools and that a single charter school board may hold one or more charter contracts. It also provides that each school must be separate and distinct from any others and must report its performance as separate schools, being held independently accountable for its performance.

State law provides that a charter school is eligible to participate in state-sponsored or district-sponsored athletic and academic interscholastic leagues, competitions, awards, scholarships, and recognition programs for students, educators, administrators, and schools to the same extent as non-charter public schools.

State law provides that a charter school must function as a local educational agency, and as such, a charter school is responsible for meeting the requirements of local educational agencies under applicable federal laws, including those relating to special education, receipt of funds and compliance with funding requirements. According to the law, status as a local educational agency does not preclude a charter school from developing, by mutual agreement or formal contract, links with the local school district for services, resources and programs.
The law does not provide clarity regarding funding for low-incident, high-cost services for charter schools in the same amount and/or in a manner similar to other local educational agencies. However, subject to the approval of the state authorizer, the law allows a charter school and a local school district to negotiate and enter into a contract for the provision of and payment for special education services, including, but not necessarily limited to, a reasonable reserve not to exceed 5% of the local school district's total budget for providing special education services. It provides that the reserve may be used by the local school district only to offset excess costs of providing services to students with disabilities enrolled in the charter school.

The law requires the state department of education to make payments to charter schools for each student in average daily attendance at the charter school equal to the state share of the adequate education program payments for each student in average daily attendance at the school district in which the charter school is located. In calculating the local contribution for purposes of determining the state share of the adequate education program payments, the law requires the state department to deduct the pro rata local contribution of the school district in which the student resides.
The law requires the state department of education to direct the proportionate share of monies generated under federal and state categorical aid programs, including special education, vocational, gifted and alternative school programs, to charter schools serving students eligible for such aid. It requires the department to ensure that charter schools with rapidly expanding enrollments are treated equitably in the calculation and disbursement of all federal and state categorical aid program dollars.

The law requires the state department of education to disburse state transportation funding to a charter school on the same basis and in the same manner as it is paid to school districts under the adequate education program.

While it appears that this law has many of the model law components related to equitable operational and categorical funding, there is no evidence yet of the actual level of equity once implementation of such elements occurs.

State law provides that a charter school has a right of first refusal to purchase or lease at or below fair market value a closed public school facility or property or unused portions of a public school facility or property in the school district in which the charter school is located if the school district decides to sell or lease the public school facility or property. The law provides that if a conversion charter school application is successful, the local school district owning the conversion charter school’s facility must offer to lease or sell the building to the conversion charter school at or below fair market value.
It also provides that a charter school may negotiate and contract at or below fair market value with a school district, state institution of higher learning, public community or junior college, or any other public or for-profit or nonprofit private entity for the use of a facility for a school building.

States law allows public entities, including, but not limited to, libraries, community service organizations, museums, performing arts venues, theatres, cinemas, churches, community and junior colleges, colleges and universities, to provide space to charter schools within their facilities under their preexisting zoning and land use designations.

State law provides that charter schools may choose to participate in the state retirement systems.

Mississippi law does not include any of the model law’s provisions regarding full-time virtual charter schools.