MS HB572

Creates a 10-member Commission on Holmes-Durant Consolidated School District Structure to review school district consolidation in Durant and Holmes County, with a report due to the Legislature by January 1, 2016, with recommendations on consolidating into one school district and financing capital improvements.

Establishes the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District effective July 1, 2015, merging the former Oktibbeha County School District and Starkville School District into one countywide municipal separate school district with a central office in Starkville.

Authorizes the issuance of notes, certificates of indebtedness, and bonds by the Oktibbeha County School District for equipment, school buses, computers, textbooks, facility repairs, and capital improvements, with principal and interest to be paid by special ad valorem taxes.

Amends Section 37-7-104.3 to provide that special ad valorem taxes levied after July 1, 2015, for notes and bonds issued by the Board of Supervisors shall be levied on all taxable property of the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, not just the former Oktibbeha County School District.

Requires all outstanding debt of both former school districts to be assumed by the new consolidated district, with special ad valorem taxes levied on all taxable property in the consolidated district to pay the debt.