NCSBA Monthly Interim Legislative Report – January 2018

NCSBA Monthly Interim Legislative Report – January 2018


JOINT LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

The General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee held its third meeting of the interim on January 9.

Virtual Charter Schools
Members received an update on the performance of the NC Virtual Academy, the virtual charter school pilot managed by K12, Inc..  Dr. Joel Medley, the head of the school, talked about student demographics, feedback from teachers and parents and other school performance factors.  Dr. Medley explained that the school’s withdrawal rate has been going down while enrollment has been increasing.  He requested to have the school’s pilot status changed to permanent rather than wait until the pilot runs its course.

To see the presentation materials click here.

Licensure
Dr. Maria Pitre-Martin, Deputy State Superintendent, gave an update on the teacher licensure process.  There was also a presentation on the results of a recent audit of DPI’s teacher licensure process.

To see the presentation materials click here and here.

Advanced Courses
Sneha Shah-Coltrane, Director of Advanced Learning and Gifted Education at DPI, updated the committee on AP/IB program enrollment.

To see the presentation materials click here.

Next Meeting – Tuesday, February 6 at 10:00 AM in Room 643 LOB
Click
here for the meeting agenda

JOINT LEGISLATIVE TASK FORCE ON EDUCATION FINANCE REFORM
The Joint Legislative Task Force on Education Finance Reform met on January 31.  Three local school district superintendents and three local school finance officers shared their perspectives on the current school funding system and items the task force should consider as it moves forward.  Common themes from their presentations included the need for more local flexibility in budgeting and the need to remove the local funding cap for students with disabilities.  They also talked about disentangling the charter school/school district funding relationship.

NCSBA Director of Governmental Relations Leanne Winner and NCASA Executive Director Katherine Joyce also spoke to the task force about the school funding system and considerations that should be taken into account in any reform effort.

The local superintendents who spoke were:

Dr. Stephen Fisher (Cleveland) click here for the presentation materials

Dr. Tim Markley (New Hanover) click here for the presentation materials

Dr. Rob Jackson (Edenton-Chowan) click here for the presentation materials

The finance officers who spoke were:

Jeff Hollamon (Onslow) click here for the presentation materials

Norris Barger (Transylvania) click here for the presentation materials

Carol Herndon (Rowan-Salisbury) click here for the presentation materials

Click here to see Ms. Winner’s presentation materials
Click here to see Ms. Joyce’s presentation materials

Next Meeting – Thursday, February 22 at 10:00 AM

PROGRAM EVALUATION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
The Program Evaluation Oversight Committee met on January 22 for the first time since 2016.  Staff released several new reports, 3 of which impact public schools:
A report on the county commissioner-school board dispute resolution process (click here to read)
A report on options for increasing lottery proceeds (click here to read)
A report on the demand for school nurses (click here to read)

The reports are expected to be discussed in detail at the committee’s next meeting on February 12.

The Committee also heard about a study of NC school capital needs in 9 LEAs that was conducted by an outside consulting group.  This study is separate from the DPI 5-year facility needs survey.  The group used its own methodology in looking at school building capacity and utilization.  They determined which LEAs having the highest facility needs in relation to their capacity to meet those needs and ability to pay.  Click here to read the report.

Next Meetings –
Monday, February 12 at 1:00 PM
Monday, February 26 at 1:00 PM

CHILD FATALITY TASK FORCE
The Child Fatality Task Force met on January 17.  The Committee voted to support legislation to require suicide prevention training for school staff (HB 285) and increase funding for school nurses.

Next Meeting – Tuesday, February 6 at 10 AM (intentional death prevention committee); Tuesday, February 13 at 10 AM (unintentional death prevention committee)

JOINT LEGISLATIVE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
The Joint Legislative Emergency Management Oversight Committee met on January 25.  The committee received an update on school safety initiatives.  Click here to read more about what occurred at this meeting.

Click here and here to see the presentation materials.

SPECIAL SESSION
The General Assembly convened for a special session on Wednesday, January 10.  Lawmakers did NOT take up the K-3 class size mandate and did NOT do anything on school administrator pay.  However, House and Senate leaders are reportedly making progress on the class size issue.  If anything transpires on this issue we will send out an alert immediately.

NOTABLE UPCOMING MEETINGS
The Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee will next meet on February 6 at 10:00 AM.

The Joint Legislative Task Force on Education Finance Reform will next meet on February 22 at 10:00 AM.

The Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee will meet on February 12 at 1:00 PM and February 26 at 1:00 PM.

The Child Fatality Task Force will hold subcommittee meetings on February 6 at 10 AM and February 13 at 10 AM.

 

 

Leanne E. Winner
Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6686 direct dial

Bruce Mildwurf
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 606-3916 mobile

Richard Bostic
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6677 direct dial

Sean Holmes
Governmental Relations Research Specialist
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 747-6688

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