Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 37 - EDUCATION (§§ 37-NEW-001 — 37-NEW01-004) › Chapter 7 - SCHOOL DISTRICTS; BOARDS OF TRUSTEES OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS (§§ 37-7-1 — 37-7-1001) › Article 3 - ABOLITION, ALTERATION AND CREATION OF DISTRICTS (§§ 37-7-101 — 37-7-117) › Section 37-7-104.2 - Administrative consolidation of all school districts in Clay County, Mississippi, into one school district; procedure

(1)
In Clay County, Mississippi, in which are located, as of January 1, 2013, two (2) school districts, there shall be an administrative consolidation of all of those school districts in the county into one (1) new consolidated school district to be designated as West Point Consolidated School District which shall consist of the territory of the former Clay County School District and the West Point School District. The central administrative office of the West Point Consolidated School District shall be located in West Point, Mississippi.
(2)
On or before September 1, 2013, the State Board of Education shall serve the local school boards in Clay County with notice and instructions regarding the timetable for action to be taken to comply with the administrative consolidation required in this section. The State Board of Education shall provide for the administrative consolidation of the school districts in the county on or before July 1, 2015. In the new West Point Consolidated School District, there shall be a new board of trustees comprised of five (5) members selected as follows:
(a)
the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of West Point shall appoint three (3) of the five (5) members, each to be selected for a term of four (4) years; and
(b)
two (2) members to be elected for a term of four (4) years by the electors of Clay County residing outside of the West Point corporate limits who shall be residents of that territory and who shall be elected in a November 2014 special election which shall be called by the Governor for that purpose. All subsequent members of the board elected from the territory outside of the West Point corporate limits shall be elected for a term of four (4) years at the regular general election held on the first Monday in November next preceding the expiration of the term of office of the respective member or members. All elected and appointed members shall take office on the first Monday of January following the date of their election or appointment. The State Board of Education, with the assistance of the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER), shall apportion the territory of the new consolidated school district located outside the West Point corporate limits into two (2) new single member board of trustee election districts. The State Board of Education shall thereafter publish the same in some newspaper of general circulation in the county for at least three (3) consecutive weeks and after having given notice of publication and recording the same upon the minutes of the school boards of each school district in the county, the new district lines will thereafter be effective for the November 2014 special election. Any school board member of the former school districts residing in the proper territory shall be eligible for appointment or election to the new Board of Trustees for West Point Consolidated School District.
Any school district affected by the required administrative consolidation in Clay County that does not voluntarily consolidate as ordered by the State Board of Education shall be administratively consolidated by the State Board of Education, to be effective on July 1 following the election of the new local school board. The State Board of Education shall promptly move on its own motion to administratively consolidate a school district which does not voluntarily consolidate in order to enable the affected school districts to reasonably accomplish the resulting administrative consolidation into one (1) consolidated school district by July 1 following the selection of the new board of trustees. The affected school districts shall comply with any consolidation order issued by the State Board of Education on or before July 1 following the selection of the new school boards.
(3)
On July 1 following the selection of the new Board of Trustees of the West Point Consolidated School District, the former county board of education and the former Board of Trustees of the West Point School District shall be abolished. All real and personal property which is owned or titled in the name of a school district located in such former school district shall be transferred to the new reorganized school district of West Point Consolidated School District in which such former school district is located. Each former school board shall be responsible for establishing the contracts for teachers and principals for the next school year following the required administrative consolidation with the consultation of the newly elected successor school board. The new Board of Trustees for the West Point Consolidated School District shall appoint the Superintendent of Schools for the school district. The Superintendent of Schools for the West Point Consolidated School District may appoint assistant superintendent(s) of schools for the district, but in no instance shall the administrative leadership of the West Point Consolidated School District exceed the number of assistant superintendents employed in the former West Point School District. The subsequent superintendent of schools of the reorganized school district shall not be elected, but shall thereafter be appointed by the successor board of trustees in the manner provided in Section
37-9-25
. It shall be the responsibility of the successor board of trustees to prepare and approve the budget of the new reorganized district, and the successor board of trustees may use staff from the former school districts to prepare the budget. Any proposed order of the State Board of Education directing the transfer of the assets, real or personal property of an affected school district in the county, shall be final and conclusive for the purposes of the transfer of property required by such administrative consolidation. Any person or school district aggrieved by an order of the successor newly selected Board of Trustees of the West Point Consolidated School District pursuant to the required administrative consolidation may appeal therefrom within ten (10) days from the date of the adjournment of the meeting at which such order is entered. Said appeal shall be taken in the same manner as appeals are taken from judgments or decisions of the board of supervisors as provided in Section
11-51-75
, Mississippi Code of 1972, the provisions of which shall be fully applicable to appeals taken hereunder. The Board of Trustees of the West Point Consolidated School District shall not pass upon or approve or disapprove any such order until the time for an appeal therefrom shall have expired, nor shall said board pass upon or approve or disapprove any such order from which an appeal is taken until said appeal shall have been finally determined.
(4)
When any school district in the county is abolished under the provisions of this section, the abolition thereof shall not impair or release the property of that former school district from liability for the payment of the bonds or other indebtedness of such district.
(5)
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the closing of any school or school facility, unless the facility is an unneeded administrative office located within a school district which has been abolished under the provisions of this section. All administrative consolidations under this section shall be accomplished so as not to delay or in any manner negatively affect the desegregation of another school district in the county pursuant to court order.
(6)
The State Board of Education shall promulgate rules and regulations to facilitate the administrative consolidation of the school districts in Clay County pursuant to this section. The consolidated districts shall make an election within one (1) year of consolidation concerning the group term life insurance described in subsection (7) of Section
25-15-9
. When the orders of the State Board of Education adopting the boundaries of the successor board of trustees election districts have been entered and are final, as directed by the State Board of Education, the new district lines shall be submitted by the State Board of Education with the assistance of the Attorney General to the Attorney General of the United States for preclearance or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for a declaratory judgment in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended. In the event the change in the school district lines and election districts are precleared or approved, the State Board of Education shall formally declare the new lines as the new boundaries of the successor school district.
(7)
For the initial two (2) years following the administrative consolidation required by this section, the State Department of Education may grant a waiver of accountability and state assessment requirements to the West Point Consolidated School District for the student population enrolled therein from the former Clay County School District when determining the new consolidated school district accreditation level on the performance and accountability rating model.
Added by Laws, 2013, ch. 568, SB 2637, 1, eff. 10/25/2013 (the date that the U.S. Attorney General interposed no objection under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965).