This section contains the most frequently asked questions and the appropriate responses relative to 16th Section Lands.
Our Most Frequently Asked Questions:
- Who owns Sixteenth Section Land?
- Who do I contact about leasing Sixteenth Section
Land?
- What responsibility does the Secretary of State
have in the management and leasing of Sixteenth Section Land?
- How are rents set for leases of Sixteenth Section
Land?
- What role does the County Board of Supervisors
play in the leasing of Sixteenth Section Land?
- Is Sixteenth Section Land subject to property
taxes?
- If I am leasing Sixteenth Section Land, may I cut
timber growing on the land?
- What is the income from Sixteenth Section Land
used for?
- Can Sixteenth Section Land be sold or swapped for
other land?
- May I hunt on Sixteenth Section Land?
- Does anyone have the right to use Sixteenth
Section Land without paying a fair rent?
- Why don't school districts in counties in North
Mississippi have Sixteenth Section Land?
- Where do I report abuses of Sixteenth Section
Lands?
Answers to our most Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Who owns Sixteenth Section Land?
Answer:
Title to Sixteenth Section Land is vested in the State of Mississippi,
in trust for the support of public education. Sixteenth Section Lands
are not ordinary public lands. They are trust land, and legal
principles regarding the management of trust apply. Law imposes on those
responsible for the management of trusts, the highest standards of care
and attention.
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2. Who do I contact about leasing Sixteenth Section Land?
Answer:
Although title to Sixteenth Section Lands is vested in the State of
Mississippi in trust, laws enacted by the State Legislature, place
jurisdiction and control over leasing and day to day management of the
lands in the hands of the local school board. To lease Sixteenth Section
land, you should contact the land manager of the local school district
where the land is located. For a list of local land managers, click here.
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3. What
responsibility does the Secretary of State have in the management and
leasing of Sixteenth Section Land?
Answer:
The Secretary of State exercises general supervision of the local school
districts' management of Sixteenth Section Land. Local School Districts
are required to file copies of all leases which they grant on Sixteenth
Section Land as well as reports concerning their management of the lands
and income received from leasing and investment of funds. The Secretary
of State monitors the local school districts to insure compliance with
laws regulating the management of Sixteenth Section Land. The Secretary
of State also provides legal assistance and training to the districts.
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4. How are rents set for leases of Sixteenth Section Land?
Answer:
Rents for leases of Agricultural Land, hunting and fishing rights on
Forest Land and mineral exploration and mining rights on all land
classifications are set by competitive bids solicited through public
notices published in the legal advertising section of newspapers. Fair
market rental value on all other land classifications is determined by
appraisal of the land.
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5. What
role does the County Board of Supervisors play in the leasing of
Sixteenth Section Land?
Answer:
Current law requires that the County Boards of Supervisors approve the
amount of rent in all leases in which the rent is determined by
appraisal. The Boards of Supervisors are not required to approve rental
amounts in those leases in which rent is determined by competitive bids.
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6. Is Sixteenth Section Land subject to property taxes?
Answer:
Yes, once Sixteenth Section is leased, it is subject to property taxes
in the same way that privately owned land is taxed. The lessee is
responsible for paying the property tax. The lease may be canceled for
failure to pay the taxes. When the land is not leased, the local school
district is not required to pay the usual property taxes on the land,
although it may be responsible for certain drainage district taxes.
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7. If I am leasing Sixteenth Section Land, may I cut timber growing on the
land?
Answer:
Upon leasing, the law requires that all timber be reserved to the local
school district. No timber may be cut and used by the lessee except for
fuel and necessary repairs and improvements on the lease premises.
However, before cutting any timber for firewood, repairs or improvements
the lessee should obtain written permission from the Mississippi
Forestry Commission. The following uses of Sixteenth Section timber by
the lessee are not authorized: selling of firewood; allowing others who
do not have a lease to cut firewood; cutting and selling timber to buy
fencing, posts and construction materials; cutting and selling timber to
be cut in dimensioned lumber for construction or addition to
leaseholder's home, barns, or outbuildings that are lessee-owned
improvements, or any other indirect use; or selling or trading timber.
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8. What is the income from Sixteenth Section Land used for?
Answer:
Income from Sixteenth Section Land is considered as a local funding
source, and the expendable income may be spent for any educational
purposes authorized by law.
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9. Can Sixteenth Section Land be sold or swapped for other land?
Answer:
Sixteenth Section Land cannot be sold or swapped for other lands. The
only exception is that land may be sold for industrial development.
Where land is sold for industrial development, the school district must
purchase replacement land of like acreage and value.
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10. May
I hunt on Sixteenth Section Land?
Answer:
Sixteenth Section Lands classified as Forest Land are not open to
hunting by the general public. Only the holder of a valid lease of the
hunting and fishing rights may hunt on Sixteenth Section Forest Land. If
there is no lease of the hunting and fishing rights on Forest Land, the
school district must post the land and prevent hunting and fishing on
the land.
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11. Does anyone have the right to use Sixteenth Section Land without paying a
fair rent?
Answer:
The local school district having jurisdiction and control of the land
may use Sixteenth Section Land as a site for school buildings without
paying fair market rental. However all other persons and entities,
including federal, state, and local governments must pay fair market
rental for the use of Sixteenth Section Land.
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12. Why don't school districts in counties in North Mississippi have
Sixteenth Section Land?
Answer:
The treaty with the Chickasaw Indian Nation ceding their land to the
United States failed to specifically reserve Sixteenth Sections and when
the lands were later sold by the government, no provision was made for
the reservation of school trust lands. Later the United States granted
the State of Mississippi lieu land as compensation for this error.
However, this lieu land was sold by the state, and the money invested in
railroad bonds. The investment was lost during the Civil War. The State
Legislature currently makes annual appropriations to school districts in
the Chickasaw Cession area to compensate for this lost source of local
education funding.
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13. Where
do I report abuses of Sixteenth Section Lands?
Answer:
You should report abuses of Sixteenth Section Land to the land manger or
superintendent of education of the local school district and to
the Public Lands Division of the Mississippi Secretary of State's office.
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