Senate Bill 2755 - Mississippi Opportunity Scholarship Act of 2015

• Establishes the Opportunity Scholarship Program beginning in 2015-2016 school year to provide scholarships to low-income children (household income not exceeding 1.3 times federal poverty line) to attend nonresident public schools or participating nonprofit nonpublic schools.

• Phases in the program over three years: year one (2015-2016) limited to students in persistently lowest achieving schools, kindergarteners, and students with disabilities; year two (2016-2017) expands eligibility; year three (2017-2018) opens to all low-income children statewide with a $25 million cap on scholarships for non-persistently lowest achieving school students.

• Scholarship amount equals 100% of the state's share of the resident school district's total revenue per average daily attendance, with funds paid directly to schools or parents depending on whether student attends public or nonpublic school.

• Creates an independent Education Opportunity Board with three members appointed by the Governor to administer the scholarship programs, establish guidelines, verify applicant eligibility, and make annual reports to the Legislature.

• Reduces state education funding to resident school districts by 50% of per-pupil state revenue in year one and 100% in year two for each student participating in the program; establishes Excess Scholarship Fund from unused scholarship amounts to support middle-income scholarships and public school choice demonstration grants.