The Legislature appropriates funding annually to resolve the disparity between counties which have sixteenth section lands and the Chickasaw Cession counties which have no sixteenth section lands. This history of the Chickasaw Cession dates to 1832.
The amount of money appropriated annually has two funding elements; which are the Mississippi Constitution, Section 212, and Federal Court Order No. 84-4109 issued by the U.S. Fifth Court of Appeals.
Mississippi Constitution, Section 212 - The amount of $62,190.96 is appropriated annually. It represents the amount eight percent interest would have earned the counties in the Chickasaw Cession on the proceeds from the sale of the sixteenth section lands and is paid to the school districts on a per acre basis. The grant amount is consistent from year to year and is disbursed in equal payments in May and November as required by the Constitution.
Federal Court Order No. 84-4109 – In February 1989, the U.S. Fifth Court of Appeals established a funding formula to provide revenue to the Chickasaw Cession counties. The formula takes the total sum of expendable revenue, excluding income from oil and gas, from sixteenth section lands during the second preceding fiscal year and divides it by the number of Minimum Education Program teacher units outside the Chickasaw Cession area to come to an income per teacher unit amount. The per teacher unit amount is multiplied by the number of Minimum Education Program teacher units in the Chickasaw Cession districts. Minimum Education Program teacher units in a school district not wholly located within in the Chickasaw Cession land area is proportioned by the land area within the Chickasaw Cession land area bears to the total land area of the school district.
The total grant award includes the Section 212 appropriation and the amount calculated by the Federal Court Order. This amount is disbursed to the Chickasaw Cession school districts beginning in July of each year.