NCSBA Legislative Update – June 14, 2019

NCSBA Legislative Update – June 14, 2019

This Week at the Legislature

The State budget remains on the minds of everyone on Jones Street. The most asked question inside the legislative building this week was “What do you know?” With the answer among lobbyists and rank and file legislators always being, “Not much.” Translation = budget negotiations are slow going. That said, House and Senate committees picked up the pace, moving along a number of education bills. Several of those bills look quite different today than they did this time last week. We have explained those bill changes below.

 

Movement of K-12 Education Bills

HB 37: Child Sex Abuse/Extend Statute of Limitations

  • Approved by the House Judiciary committee and referred to the House rules committee
  • Primary Sponsors: Representatives Riddell, R-Alamance; White, R-Johnston; Torbett, R-Gaston; B. Turner, D-Buncombe
  • The House Judiciary committee changed the bill to include required training on child sex abuse and sex trafficking for school personnel – Additionally, the bill extends the statute of limitations for a civil action for child sexual abuse so that a plaintiff has until age 38 to commence an action

 

HB 57: Create Term for Public Schools & Codify NCVPS

  • Passed the Senate 42-0 and returned to the House for concurrence
  • Primary Sponsors: Representatives Elmore, R-Wilkes; Johnson, R-Cabarrus; Horn, R-Union
  • Defines a public school unit as a local school administrative unit, a charter school, a regional school, or a school providing elementary or secondary instruction operated by the State Board of Education (SBE), such as innovative schools and schools for students with visual and hearing impairments, or the University of North Carolina, such as the NC School of the Arts high school, NC School of Science and Mathematics, and UNC Laboratory Schools
  • Codifies the NC Virtual Public School

 

HB 924: Teacher Contract Changes

  • Approved by the Senate Rules committee and had been withdrawn from the calendar twice before being calendared for Monday, June 17
  • Primary Sponsors: Representatives D. Hall, R-Caldwell; Horn, R-Union
  • Clarifies eligibility for extended teacher contracts by defining a year of employment as not less than the standard 120 workdays performed as a teacher in a full-time permanent position, which had previously been the standard for career status
  • The Senate previously amended the bill to include contents of SB 134: Economics & Financial Literacy Act, which establishes completion of an economics and personal finance course as a public high school graduation requirement

 

SB 219: Modify Teacher Licensing Requirements

  • Passed the House 116-0 – Senate voted not to concur with House changes to the bill and a conference committee was appointed (click here for conferee list)
  • Primary Sponsors: Senators McInnis, R-Richmond; Tillman, R-Randolph; Johnson, R-Union
  • Makes changes to the testing requirements for an initial professional teacher license (IPL), provides a one-year IPL extension for certain teachers, and implements a three-year nonrenewable license for teachers who were issued an IPL but did not qualify for a continued professional license (CPL)
  • The House made the following changes to the bill:
    • Provide a three-year transitional license for teachers from other states – teachers with a transitional license are not required to achieve a minimum score on a standardized test
    • Authorize LEAs to determine experience credit for teachers from other states to pay them at the commensurate level on the State salary schedule during the first year of the license
    • Clarify that a lifetime license be issued to a currently licensed teacher that “has completed 30 or more years of creditable service with the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System.” – previously, teachers could obtain a lifetime teaching license at 50 years

 

SB 227: TPS/Principal Fellows Consolidation

  • Approved by the House Education K-12 committee and referred to the House Rules committee
  • Primary Sponsor: Senator Tillman, R-Randolph
  • The House Education K-12 committee replaced the contents of the original bill that dealt with broadening charter school enrollment priority with a bill dealing with principal preparation programs
  • The new version of the bill does the following:
    • Maintains the existing administration of the Transforming Principal Preparation Program (TP3) for current grant recipients until 2021 (the TP3 program was to be transferred to the control of the Principal Fellows Commission on July 1, 2019)
    • TP3 and the Principal Fellows Program will merge on July 1, 2021 and become the North Carolina Principal Fellows and TP3 Commission
    • The NC Association of School Administrators wrote, “The goal of the merger of the two programs is to streamline oversight and administration of existing principal preparation programs, while generating more funds for applicants seeking forgivable loans to become effective principals.”

 

SB 366: 10th Grade/College Transfer Pathways

  • Approved by the House Education K-12 committee and referred to the House Rules committee
  • Primary Sponsors: Senators McInnis, R-Richmond; B. Jackson, R-Sampson
  • Expands academic transition pathway options for certain freshmen and sophomore high school students
  • The House Education K-12 committee made the following changes to the bill:
    • Expand the career and technical education pathway for high school freshmen and sophomores to include business technologies courses
    • Modify the college transfer pathway to include certain sophomores (the previous edition of the bill included freshmen – current law already includes juniors and seniors)
    • Require that those sophomores receive academic advising on entering early college and get parental consent before participating in the pathway
    • Require the SBE to include certain individuals as qualified to contract as adjunct instructors with LEAs for career and technical education programs
  • Current law provides career and technical education pathways for high school freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors and college transfer pathways for high school juniors and seniors – Click here to access a SB 366 bill summary that also explains current law

 

SB 399: Rehire High-Need Teachers

  • Approved by the House Education K-12 committee and referred to the House Rules committee with recommendation that it be referred to the House Pensions committee
  • Primary Sponsors: Senators Horner, R-Nash; Berger, R-Rockingham; Chaudhuri, D-Wake
  • Allows teachers who retired on or before February 1, 2019 to return to work in high-need schools (Title I schools or schools with an overall school performance grade of D or F) without adversely impacting the retired teachers’ benefits

 

SB 448: Amend Appt for Compact on Education/Military

  • Passed the House 116-0 and sent to the Governor
  • Primary Sponsor: Senator Brown, R-Onslow
  • Requires that an individual appointed by the Governor as Compact Commissioner represent at least one LEA with a high concentration of military children and removes the requirement that the individual be a licensed NC attorney

 

SB 500: Modify Advanced Math Course Enrollment

  • Passed the House 116-0 and returned to the Senate for concurrence
  • Primary Sponsors: Senators Smith, D-Northampton; Tillman, R-Randolph; Chaudhuri, D-Wake
  • Makes the following modifications to the implementation of advanced math courses and opportunities for grades three and higher:
    • When practicable, LEAs must offer advanced learning opportunities in math in grades three through five
    • Any student in grades three through five who scores at the highest level on the EOG must be provided advanced learning opportunities in math approved for that student’s grade level
    • Before a parent or guardian can provide written consent for their student to be excluded or removed from an advanced learning opportunity for students in grades three through five or from an advanced math course for students in grades six and higher, it is required that the parent or guardian be informed that the student’s placement was determined by the student’s achievement at the highest level on the previous EOG or EOC
  • The House went back and forth on several changes to the bill, but ultimately the only substantial change that was made to the Senate version is that schools that did not offer Math I to eighth graders during the 2018-19 school year do not have to offer it for the 2019-20 school year, but are required to develop and submit an implementation plan by January 15, 2020

 

Program Evaluation Division—Early Childhood Learning

A recent State report by the Program Evaluation Division (PED) found that more focus on early childhood learning will ultimately raise achievement in predominately disadvantaged school districts. The report states that predominately disadvantaged school districts that demonstrate average or above average school performance are doing so by third grade. These districts share the following common characteristics:

  • Provide Pre-K,
  • Maximize learning time by providing after school tutoring or more uninterrupted instruction time for students struggling in a specific subject area;
  • Obtain additional resources like federal grants and partnerships with local civic organizations that provide tutoring
  • Have local school boards that focus on policy and academic achievement rather than attempting to micromanage the school district; and
  • Attract and retain high-quality teachers and principals by providing a positive culture, teacher coaching and development, and principal autonomy

The report includes two recommendations for the General Assembly. First, low-performing school districts should be required to incorporate an early childhood component into their required plans for improvement. Second, an assessment of early childhood learning should be included in DPI’s comprehensive needs assessment process for school districts.

Click here to access the PED report and additional resources.

 

June 17-21 Legislative Meeting Calendar

Monday, June 17

2:30 pm – House: Rules – Legislative Building, rm 1228/1327 (audio)

Tuesday, June 18

1:00 pm – House: Education K-12 – Legislative Offices Building, rm 643 (audio)

Wednesday, June 19

11:00 am – Senate: Education/Higher Education – Legislative Building, rm 1027/1128 (audio)

 

 

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

Bruce Mildwurf
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 747-6692

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

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

North Carolina School Boards AssociationNCSBA Legislative Update – June 14, 2019