37-13-85 - Powers and duties.
§ 37-13-85. Powers and duties.
The Office of Compulsory School Attendance Enforcement shall have the following powers and duties, in addition to all others imposed or granted by law:
(a) To establish any policies or guidelines concerning the employment of school attendance officers which serve to effectuate a uniform system of enforcement under the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law throughout the state, and to designate the number of school attendance officers which shall be employed to serve in each school district area;
(b) To supervise and assist school attendance officer supervisors in the performance of their duties;
(c) To establish minimum standards for enrollment and attendance for the state and each individual school district, and to monitor the success of the state and districts in achieving the required levels of performance;
(d) To provide to school districts failing to meet the established standards for enrollment and attendance assistance in reducing absenteeism or the dropout rates in those districts;
(e) To establish any qualifications, in addition to those required under Section 37-13-89, for school attendance officers as the office deems necessary to further the purposes of the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law;
(f) To develop and implement a system under which school districts are required to maintain accurate records that document enrollment and attendance in such a manner that the records reflect all changes in enrollment and attendance, and to require school attendance officers to submit information concerning public school attendance on a monthly basis to the office;
(g) To prepare the form of the certificate of enrollment required under the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law and to furnish a sufficient number of the certificates of enrollment to each school attendance officer in the state;
(h) To publish a report each year on the work of school attendance officers in each school district concerning enforcement of the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law. The report shall include: figures reflecting school attendance violations and reductions or increases in the school dropout rates; information describing attendance-related problems and proposed solutions for those problems; and any other information that the State Department of Education may require. The report shall be submitted to the State Board of Education and the Education Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives before the first day of July for the immediately preceding school year;
(i) To provide to the State Board of Education statistical information concerning absenteeism, dropouts and other attendance-related problems as requested by the State Board of Education;
(j) To provide for the certification of school attendance officers;
(k) To provide for a course of training and education for school attendance officers, and to require successful completion of the course as a prerequisite to certification by the office as school attendance officers;
(l ) To adopt any guidelines or policies the office deems necessary to effectuate an orderly transition from the supervision of school attendance officers by district attorneys to the supervision by the school attendance officer supervisors;
(m) Beginning on July 1, 1998, to require school attendance officer supervisors to employ persons employed by district attorneys before July 1, 1998, as school attendance officers without requiring such persons to submit an application or interview for employment with the State Department of Education;
(n) To adopt policies or guidelines linking the duties of school attendance officers to the appropriate courts, law enforcement agencies and community service providers; and
(o) To adopt any other policies or guidelines that the office deems necessary for the enforcement of the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law; however, the policies or guidelines shall not add to or contradict with the requirements of Section 37-13-91.
Sources: Laws, 1998, ch. 566, § 3; reenacted without change, Laws, 2002, ch. 610, § 3; reenacted without change, Laws, 2004, ch. 552, § 3; reenacted without change, Laws, 2009, ch. 345, § 17, eff from and after June 30, 2009.