{"data":{"id":"us-ms/miss.-code-ann.-37-179-3","jurisdiction":"us-ms","citation":"Miss. Code Ann. § 37-179-3","heading":"Miss. Code Ann. § 37-179-3","body":"(1) A district which is an applicant to be designated as a district of innovation under Section 37-179-1 shall:\n\n(a) Establish goals and performance targets for the district of innovation proposal, which may include:\n\n(i) Reducing achievement gaps among groups of public school students by expanding learning experiences for students who are identified as academically low-achieving;\n\n(ii) Increasing pupil learning through the implementation of high, rigorous standards for pupil performance;\n\n(iii) Increasing the participation of students in various curriculum components and instructional components within selected schools to enhance at each grade level;\n\n(iv) Increasing the number of students who are college and career-ready;\n\n(v) Motivating students at different grade levels by offering more curriculum choices and student learning opportunities to parents and students within the district;\n\n(b) Identify changes needed in the district and schools to lead to better prepared students for success in life and work;\n\n(c) Have a district wide plan of innovation that describes and justifies which schools and innovative practices will be incorporated;\n\n(d) Provide documentation of community, educator, parental, and the local board's support of the proposed innovations;\n\n(e) Provide detailed information regarding the rationale of requests for waivers from Title 37, Mississippi Code of 1972 , which relate to the elementary and secondary education of public school students, and administrative regulations, and exemptions for selected schools regarding waivers of local school board policies;\n\n(f) Document the fiscal and human resources the board will provide throughout the term of the implementation of the innovations within its plan; and\n\n(g) Provide other materials as required by the department in compliance with the board's administrative regulations and application procedures.\n\n(2) The district and all schools participating in a district's innovation plan shall:\n\n(a) Ensure the same health, safety, civil rights, and disability rights requirements as are applied to all public schools;\n\n(b) Ensure students meet compulsory attendance requirements under Sections 37-13-91 and 37-13-92 ;\n\n(c) Ensure that high school course offerings meet or exceed the minimum required under Sections 37-16-7 and 37-3-49 , for high school graduation or meet early graduation requirements that may be enacted by the Mississippi Legislature;\n\n(d) Ensure the student performance standards meet or exceed those adopted by the State Board of Education as required by Sections 37-3-49 , 37-16-3 and 37-17-6 , including compliance with the statewide assessment system specified in Chapter 16, Title 37, Mississippi Code of 1972;\n\n(e) Adhere to the same financial audits, audit procedures, and audit requirements as are applied under Section 7-7-211(e) ;\n\n(f) Require state and criminal background checks for staff and volunteers as required of all public school employees and volunteers within the public schools and specified in Section 37-9-17 ;\n\n(g) Comply with open records and open meeting requirements under Sections 25-41-1 et seq. and 25-61-1 et seq. ;\n\n(h) Comply with purchasing requirements and limitations under Chapter 39, Title 37, Mississippi Code of 1972;\n\n(i) Provide overall instructional time that is equivalent to or greater than that required under Sections 37-1-11 and 37-13-67 , but which may include on-site instruction, distance learning, online courses, and work-based learning on nontraditional school days or hours; and\n\n(j) Provide data to the department as deemed necessary to generate school and district reports.\n\n(3)(a) Only schools that choose to be designated as schools of innovation shall be included in a district's application;\n\n(b) As used in this paragraph, “ eligible employees ” means employees that are regularly employed at the school and those employees whose primary job duties will be affected by the plan; and\nde data to the department as deemed necessary to generate school and district reports.\n\n(3)(a) Only schools that choose to be designated as schools of innovation shall be included in a district's application;\n\n(b) As used in this paragraph, “ eligible employees ” means employees that are regularly employed at the school and those employees whose primary job duties will be affected by the plan; and\n\n(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection, a local school board may require a school that has been identified as a persistently low-achieving school under provisions of Section 37-17-6 to participate in the district's plan of innovation.\n\n(4) Notwithstanding any statutes to the contrary, the board may approve the requests of districts of innovation to:\n\n(a) Use capital outlay funds for operational costs;\n\n(b) Hire persons for classified positions in nontraditional school and district assignments who have bachelors and advanced degrees from postsecondary education institutions accredited by a regional accrediting association (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) or by an organization affiliated with the National Commission on Accrediting;\n\n(c) Employ teachers on extended employment contracts or extra duty contracts and compensate them on a salary schedule other than the single salary schedule;\n\n(d) Extend the school days as is appropriate within the district with compensation for the employees as determined locally;\n\n(e) Establish alternative education programs and services that are delivered in nontraditional hours and which may be jointly provided in cooperation with another school district or consortia of districts;\n\n(f) Establish online classes within the district for delivering alternative classes in a blended environment to meet high school graduation requirements;\n\n(g) Use a flexible school calendar;\n\n(h) Convert existing schools into schools of innovation; and\n\n(i) Modify the formula under Chapter 151, Title 37, Mississippi Code of 1972 , for distributing total funding formula funds for students in net enrollment in nontraditional programming time, including alternative programs and virtual programs. Funds granted to a district shall not exceed those that would have otherwise been distributed based on net enrollment during regular instructional days.","path":["MS Code","Title 37"],"source_url":"https://legislature.ms.gov/","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:17Z","sha256":"689086c4bfa75577ae825a66ef5d4422c5163ee2c9df572a6d438cb52819d6aa","source_id":"us-ms","stale":false,"prev":"us-ms/miss.-code-ann.-37-179-1","next":"us-ms/miss.-code-ann.-37-18-1"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}