Lawmakers also took steps to address chronic absenteeism, requiring school districts to adopt locally developed student attendance policies and increasing school attendance officer pay, among other provisions.
Tucked in the legislation that provided Mississippi’s teachers with pay raises this session was a provision that revised how much of the school day a student has to be in class to be counted as present.
The bill, SB 2103, which included the previously reported pay raises for teachers, assistant teachers, occupational therapists, special education teachers and school attendance officers, also prevents schools from counting a student as absent when they are participating in a school activity or event.
In the conference report, unanimously adopted by both the Senate and the House of Representatives, to be counted as present for the full school day, Mississippi public school students will be required to attend at least 66% of the day.
“And conversely, obviously, 33% or more absent will be an absence,” said Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar (R).
Current law defines a “school day” as “not less than five and one-half (5-1/2) and not more than eight (8) hours of actual teaching in which both teachers and pupils are in regular attendance for scheduled schoolwork.”
Absences greater than three days will require a written excuse from a physician or medical provider, or the parent will be required to present “some other rationale.”
Only five excused absences will be allowed per semester, except in extenuating circumstances, and once a student has missed 10% of the allotted school days, a school attendance officer will begin tiered intervention efforts to address the chronic absenteeism. Those efforts will include parent notification, working with parents to identify barriers to attendance, referral to outside services, and an individualized attendance success plan.
School sanctioned activities or events will no longer be counted as an absence. Senator DeBar said those activities and events include Mississippi High School Activities Association sponsored athletic event, choir, band, and academic club events such as Beta Club and Mathletics, to name a few.
To combat chronic absenteeism, lawmakers are requiring school districts to adopt locally developed student attendance policies by August 1 of this year.
Each school district is to adopt strategies for proactive family engagement to prevent and reduce chronic absenteeism, including, but not limited to: regular communication with families in a language and manner understandable to them about the importance of daily attendance and the consequences of absenteeism; partnering with community organizations, faith-based institutions or local businesses to support families in overcoming barriers to school attendance; and providing training for school staff on culturally responsive family engagement practices related to attendance.
In addition, when a school’s chronic absenteeism rate exceeds 10% for any subgroup or grade level, the school district will be required to adopt a written chronic absenteeism reduction plan which is made publicly available on the district’s website. The plan is to describe specific evidence-based practices the district will employ to reduce chronic absenteeism, the timeline for
implementation, family and community engagement strategies, and the metrics for measuring progress.
To assist in this efforts, lawmakers provided funds this session to provide a $5,000 increase in the annual salary for school attendance officers.
Requirements to be a school attendance officer were also adjusted to attract more people to the field. Now, school attendance officers will be required to possess one of the following:
- A bachelor’s degree in behavior science, or a related field.
- An associate’s degree in a behavior science, or related field, plus two years of full-time experience.
- At least three years of experience in a related field that involves student support and engagement.
SAO starting pay was raised to $29,528, which does not take into account local supplements.
“This does not prevent local school districts from providing a supplement, so a local district can use local funds to provide a supplement to SAOs if they so choose,” DeBar added.
The legislation outlines that the state is to provide funding for one SAO per 4,000 compulsory-school-aged children enrolled in public schools.
Governor Tate Reeves (R) can now either sign the bill into law, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.
-- Article credit to Jeremy Pittari for the Magnolia Tribune --
