Section 37-61-33 - Education Enhancement Fund; appropriations from fund; certain funds from working cash-stabilization reserve fund transferred to education enhancement fund; school district procurement cards or credentials for a digital solution(1) There is created within the State Treasury a special fund to be designated the "Education Enhancement Fund" into which shall be deposited all the revenues collected pursuant to Sections 27-65-75 (5), (7) and (8) and 27-67-31(a) and (b).(2) Of the amount deposited into the Education Enhancement Fund, Sixteen Million Dollars ($16,000,000.00) shall be appropriated each fiscal year to the State Department of Education to be distributed to all school districts. Such money shall be distributed to all school districts in the proportion that the net enrollment of each school district bears to the net enrollment of all school districts within the state for the following purposes: (a) Purchasing, erecting, repairing, equipping, remodeling and enlarging school buildings and related facilities, including gymnasiums, auditoriums, lunchrooms, vocational training buildings, libraries, teachers' homes, school barns, transportation vehicles (which shall include new and used transportation vehicles) and garages for transportation vehicles, and purchasing land therefor;(b) Establishing and equipping school athletic fields and necessary facilities connected therewith, and purchasing land therefor;(c) Providing necessary water, light, heating, air-conditioning and sewerage facilities for school buildings, and purchasing land therefor;(d) As a pledge to pay all or a portion of the debt service on debt issued by the school district under Sections 37-59-1 through 37-59-45, 37-59-101 through 37-59-115, 37-7-351 through 37-7-359, 37-41-89 through 37-41-99, 37-7-301, 37-7-302 and 37-41-81, or debt issued by boards of supervisors for agricultural high schools pursuant to Section 37-27-65, if such pledge is accomplished pursuant to a written contract or resolution approved and spread upon the minutes of an official meeting of the district's school board or board of supervisors. The annual grant to such district in any subsequent year during the term of the resolution or contract shall not be reduced below an amount equal to the district's grant amount for the year in which the contract or resolution was adopted. The intent of this provision is to allow school districts to irrevocably pledge a certain, constant stream of revenue as security for long-term obligations issued under the code sections enumerated in this paragraph or as otherwise allowed by law. It is the intent of the Legislature that the provisions of this paragraph shall be cumulative and supplemental to any existing funding programs or other authority conferred upon school districts or school boards. Debt of a district secured by a pledge of sales tax revenue pursuant to this paragraph shall not be subject to any debt limitation contained in the foregoing enumerated code sections ; and(e) Any other purpose for which the total funding formula funds as determined by this act are not sufficient.(3) The remainder of the money deposited into the Education Enhancement Fund shall be appropriated as follows: (a) To the State Department of Education as follows: (i) Sixteen and sixty-one one-hundredths percent (16.61%) to the cost of the total funding formula determined under this act; of the funds generated by the percentage set forth in this section for the support of the adequate education program, one and one hundred seventy-eight one-thousandths percent (1.178%) of the funds shall be appropriated to be used by the State Department of Education for the purchase of textbooks to be loaned under Sections 37-43-1 through 37-43-59 to approved nonpublic schools, as described in Section 37-43-1. The funds to be distributed to each nonpublic school shall be in the proportion that the average daily attendance of each nonpublic school bears to the total average daily attendance of all nonpublic schools;(ii) Seven and ninety-seven one-hundredths percent (7.97%) to assist the funding of transportation operations and maintenance pursuant to Section 37-19-23; and(iii) Nine and sixty-one one-hundredths percent (9.61%) for including computers and computer software, to be distributed to all eligible teachers within the state through the use of procurement cards or a digital solution capable of tracking, paying and reporting purchases. Classroom supply funds shall not be expended for administrative purposes. On a date to be determined by the State Department of Education, but not later than July 1 of each year, local school districts shall determine and submit to the State Department of Education the number of teachers eligible to receive an allocation for the current year. For purposes of this subparagraph, "teacher" means any employee of the school board of a school district, or the Mississippi School for the Arts, the Mississippi School for Math and Science, the Mississippi School for the Blind, the Mississippi School for the Deaf or public charter school, who is required by law to obtain a teacher's license from the State Department of Education and who is assigned to an instructional area of work as defined by the department, and shall include any full- or part-time gifted or special education teacher. It is the intent of the Legislature that all classroom teachers shall utilize these funds in a manner that addresses individual classroom needs and supports the overall goals of the school regarding supplies, instructional materials, equipment, computers or computer software under the provisions of this subparagraph, including the type, quantity and quality of such supplies, materials and equipment. Classroom supply funds allocated under this subparagraph shall supplement, not replace, other local and state funds available for the same purposes. The State Board of Education shall develop and promulgate rules and regulations for the administration of this subparagraph consistent with the above criteria, with particular emphasis on allowing the individual teachers to expend funds as they deem appropriate. The local school board shall require each school to issue credentials for a digital solution selected by or procurement cards provided by the Department of Finance and Administration under the provisions of Section 31-7-9(1)(c) for the use of teachers and necessary support personnel in making instructional supply fund expenditures under this section, consistent with the regulations of the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration pursuant to Section 31-7-9. Such credentials or procurement cards shall be provided by the State Department of Education to local school districts on a date determined by the State Department of Education, but not later than August 1 of each year. Local school districts shall issue such credentials or procurement cards to classroom teachers at the beginning of the school year, but no later than August 1 of each year, and shall be issued in equal amounts per teacher determined by the total number of qualifying personnel and the current state appropriation for classroom supplies with the Education Enhancement Fund. After initial cards are issued under the timeline prescribed by this section, the State Department of Education may issue cards to districts for any classroom teacher hired after July 1 under a timeline prescribed by the State Department of Education. Such credentials or cards will expire on a predetermined date at the end of each school year, but not before April 1 of each year ;(b) Twenty-two and nine one-hundredths percent (22.09%) to the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning for the purpose of supporting institutions of higher learning; and(c) Fourteen and forty-one one-hundredths percent (14.41%) to the Mississippi Community College Board for the purpose of providing support to community and junior colleges.(4) The amount remaining in the Education Enhancement Fund after funds are distributed as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section shall be appropriated for other educational needs.(5) None of the funds appropriated pursuant to subsection (3)(a) of this section shall be used to reduce the state's General Fund appropriation for the categories listed in an amount below the following amounts: (a) For subsection (3)(a)(ii) of this section, Thirty-six Million Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($36,700,000.00);(b) For the aggregate of minimum program allotments in the 1997 fiscal year, formerly provided for in Chapter 19, Title 37, Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, excluding those funds for transportation as provided for in paragraph (a) of this subsection.(6) Any funds appropriated from the Education Enhancement Fund that are unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall lapse into the Education Enhancement Fund, except as otherwise provided in subsection (3)(a)(iii) of this section.Laws, 1992, ch. 419, § 9; Laws, 1993, ch. 612, § 1; Laws, 1993, ch. 509, § 1; Laws, 1995, ch, 450, § 1; Laws, 1997, ch. 557, § 1; Laws, 1997, ch. 612, § 25; Laws, 2000, ch. 617, § 3; Laws, 2001, ch. 518, § 1; Laws, 2002, ch. 551, § 7; Laws, 2003, ch. 411, § 1; Laws, 2004, ch. 595, § 24; Laws, 2006, ch. 504, § 4; reenacted without change, Laws, 2009, ch. 345, § 29; Laws, 2012, ch. 543, § 3, eff. 7/1/2012.Amended by Laws, 2024, ch. 484, HB 4130,§ 14, eff. 7/1/2024.Amended by Laws, 2024, ch. 2, HB 1704,§ 13, eff. 4/8/2024.Amended by Laws, 2023, ch. 415, HB 1173,§ 2, eff. 7/1/2023.Amended by Laws, 2022, ch. 430, SB 2422,§ 2, eff. 4/14/2022.Amended by Laws, 2020, ch. 478, HB 127,§ 1, eff. 7/8/2020.Amended by Laws, 2016, ch. 339, HB 200, 1, eff. 7/1/2016.Amended by Laws, 2015, ch. 471, HB 434, 12, eff. 4/22/2015.Amended by Laws, 2014, ch. 442, SB 2571, 7, eff. 3/26/2014.Amended by Laws, 2014, ch. 397, HB 460, 39, eff. 7/1/2014.Amended by Laws, 2013, ch. 566, SB 2138, 4, eff. 7/1/2013.