Section 37-151-201 - [Definitions] The following words and phrases have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "Base amount" or "student base amount" means the student base funding level that is established in the funding formula as the estimated cost of educating a student with no additional measured needs or special factors.(b) "Career and technical education course" or "CTE course" means a credit-bearing course that has been approved and classified by the department as a career and technical education, or CTE, course.(c) "Charter school" means a public school that is established and operating under the terms of a charter contract pursuant to Chapter 28, Title 37, Mississippi Code of 1972.(d) "Department" means the State Department of Education.(e) "English Language Learner" or "ELL" means a student identified in accordance with federal law as entitled to English as a second language or bilingual services on the basis of the student's English language proficiency.(f) "Final weighted enrollment" means the final product of applying weights to the net enrollment of a school district or charter school after accounting for the sparsity of a school district or charter school, as determined in Section 37-151-205.(g) "Gifted student" means a student identified as eligible to participate in a gifted education program for the instruction of intellectually or academically gifted children, as defined and provided for in Sections 37-23-171 through 37-23-181.(h) "Local contribution" means the amount of local tax money that school districts or charter schools must contribute to the cost of the funding formula for their district or charter school in a given fiscal year, as determined under Section 37-151-211.(i) "Local minimum tax effort" means the amount in taxes that the local levying authority for each school district must raise on behalf of the school districts and charter schools in its geographic boundaries, as determined under Section 37-151-211.(j) "Low income student" means a student who has been identified by the department, through inclusion in the identified student percentage, as having been approved for free meals based on documentation of: (i) Receipt of benefits from the following federally funded programs: 1. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);2. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF);3. Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR); or4. Medicaid, where applicable, as approved by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to conduct matching with Medicaid data to identify children eligible for free meals; or(ii) The inclusion of students who are identified as homeless children, migrant children, runaway children or Head Start children, who are approved for free school meals without application and not subject to verification, which includes foster children certified for free meals through means other than an application for free and reduced price school meals.(k) "Net enrollment" means the average of the total aggregate student enrollment of a school district or charter school on the last day of months two (2) and three (3) of the previous school year. The total aggregate student enrollment for each day may be determined by calculating the total number of students enrolled plus or minus the total number of new student enrollments or withdrawals, respectively, with the resulting amount being considered the total aggregate student enrollment on a given day. However, if a local school board or the governing board of a charter school adopts a class schedule that operates throughout the year for any or all schools in the district or the charter school, net enrollment must be computed by the State Department of Education so that the resulting net enrollment will not be higher or lower than if the local school board or the governing board had not adopted a year-round schedule.(l) "Preliminary weighted enrollment" means the initial product of applying weights to the net enrollment of a school district or charter school, as determined in Section 37-151-205.(m) "School board" means a governmental board exercising management and control over a school district and the schools of that district pursuant to the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 and state statutes.(n) "School district" or "district" means a governmental entity that establishes and supervises one or more public schools within its geographical limits pursuant to state statutes.(o) "Sparsely populated district or charter school" means a school district or charter school with a density of less than eight (8) students per square mile, as determined by dividing the net enrollment of a district or charter school by the square mileage within its geographic boundaries. For the purpose of determining the sparsity of a charter school, the square mileage of a charter school is equivalent to the square mileage within the geographic boundaries of the school district in which the charter school is located.(p) "Special education program" means a program that provides services for exceptional children, as defined and authorized by Chapter 23, Title 37, Mississippi Code of 1972.(q) "State share" means the amount the state contributes to the funding formula for the annual operating funding of each school district or charter school.(r) "Superintendent" means the administrative head of a school district.(s) "Total funding formula" means the formula used to determine annual operating funding for public schools, as prescribed in this act.(t) "Weight" or "weighting" means a multiplier used to adjust the preliminary weighted enrollment and final weighted enrollment to support the additional costs of educating students in defined student populations or in a defined geographic context.Added by Laws, 2024, ch. 484, HB 4130,§ 2, eff. 7/1/2024.