NCSBA Legislative Update – April 5, 2024

The last few weeks before the legislative short session are ticking by like a 30-second shot clock in the Final Four. Members of education-related committees are meeting to figure out what shots they might attempt once the short session begins on April 24. Below you will find summaries from two legislative committees: Joint Education Oversight and House Education Reform, along with a summary of the State Board of Education’s two-day meeting, which included the State of the Teaching Profession report.

House Select Committee on Education Reform

In hearing more than a dozen presentations over five meetings between January 11 and March 11, the committee met last week to release its findings and recommendations on nine issues ahead of the short session. It passed unanimously:

1) Teacher Compensation: “The Committee recommends that the General Assembly continue to support North Carolina teachers and further assess compensation for teachers, as well as find ways to attract and retain teachers in hard-to-staff positions.”

2) Advanced Teaching Roles (ATR) Program: “The Committee recommends that the General Assembly continue to support the ATR Program, monitor the Program, and consider how best to further implement the Program.”

3) Technology and Devices: “The Committee recommends that the General Assembly continue to support student access to technology. The Committee recommends a plan be developed to identify various funding streams for refreshing the devices currently in schools.”

4) Learning Loss Recovery: “The Committee recommends that the General Assembly support the Department of Public Instruction in continuing this recovery by investing in the following: (i) building on early grade literacy and math progress, (ii) providing targeted and evidence-based reading and math interventions in middle grades, (iii) exploring STEM initiatives aligned to workforce priorities, and (iv) renewing a commitment to the Department’s research in studying and identifying effective interventions.”

5) Comprehensive Mathematics Reform: “The Committee recommends that the General Assembly support the Department of Public Instruction in efforts to ensure that all students are prepared for Math 1.”

6) School Performance Grades: “The Committee recommends that the General Assembly modify the current A-F school performance grades by adopting a model that would create a summative grade based on an average of individual school performance grades in four areas: academics (proficiency), progress (growth), readiness (post-secondary preparation), and opportunity (chronic absenteeism, school climate, intra/extracurricular activities).”

7) Charter School Funding:  Presented findings with no recommendation.

8) School Counselors: “The Committee recommends that the General Assembly continue working to ensure that students have access to the necessary professionals in school and study the impact that funding at the recommended student to professional ratios may have on student outcomes.”

9) Principal Pay: “The Committee recommends that the General Assembly continue working to ensure that all schools have effective principals and study the impact that a new salary schedule may have on principal recruitment and retention.”

Before the findings and recommendations were issued on March 25, the committee met on March 11 to discuss the following topics:

School Counselors

The NC School Counselor Association gave an informative presentation on their role, expertise and activities to serve students. One key statistical category they shared was the recommended ratio of students to counselors. According to the American School Counselor Association, those are:

Recommended Ratio                         250-1
National Average Ratio                      385-1
North Carolina Ratio                          343-1

North Carolina ranks 22 out of 50 states. Improving that ratio is a key part of NCSBA’s legislative agenda.

Principal Compensation

Next up were Dr. John Lassiter, Principal of Hertford Grammar School (Perquimans County), and Ashley Faulkenberry, Principal of Trent Park Elementary (Craven County), presenting on principal compensation. Both principals were named in February as the 2023 Wells Fargo Regional Principals of the Year for the Northeast and Southeast regions respectively.

The principals gave this presentation  on behalf of the NC Principals and Assistant Principals Association (NCPAPA) and pointed out that the current compensation plans relies too much on student test scores. The current plan is below:

They proposed a new plan that increases the base salary and reduces the bonus based on growth.  It also adds a retention bonus beginning in year five to keep principals in place. In addition, they outlined a new school complexity score to be weighed on top of ADM and growth scores.

As a result of increasing base pay, creating a retention bonus, while considering a school’s complexity, the proposed pay model looks like their chart below.

Committee Co-Chair John Torbett (R-Gaston) said that fiscal research staff would look into what it would cost to implement this proposed plan. As listed above, the committee made this recommendation on principal pay: “The Committee recommends that the General Assembly continue working to ensure that all schools have effective principals and study the impact that a new salary schedule may have on principal recruitment and retention.”

EdNC published an in-depth look at the proposed plan: NC Principals Want Their Pay Scale To Go Beyond School Performance and Size.

Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee

The Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee met on March 26 to address three topics: SparkNC, North Carolina Principal Fellows Program, and the Career and Leadership Development Academy in New Hanover County.

SparkNC

Lynn Moody, Senior Director of Partnerships for SparkNC, alongside school leaders using the program and other supporters presented on the pilot program. 17 districts are in the pilot with $3 million each year of the biennium.  SparkNC offers students the opportunity to learn outside of the traditional classroom about eight primary tech areas through individual and collaborative “learning units.” These stackable units may be delivered in-person at SparkLab locations or virtually and may lead to an elective course credit for high school students who take enough “units.”  Presenters are seeking additional funds to roll out the program statewide. For more information on SparkNC, click here.

Carolina Journal wrote an in-depth article on SparkNC: Pilot Program Enables NC High School Students To Explore High Tech Fields

North Carolina Principal Fellows Program (NCPFP)

The program’s Director, Dr. Lauren Lampron, provided the committee with an overview, program innovations, and evaluation efforts.  She also listed several emerging issues including:

• Providing ongoing coaching during the first two years as school leaders after graduation.
• Increasing partnerships in the Sandhills region.
• Recruitment challenges due to a lack of retirement contributions while on education leave during the internship year.

Dr. Lampron also mentioned that the program is seeking additional flexibility with its operational funding to provide greater support to the candidates. Click here for the presentation and here for the program’s most recent evaluation report.

Career and Leadership Academy

The program is a collaboration between the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and New Hanover County Schools (NHCS).  The 10-month program provides leadership training to middle school students and exposes them to potential career interests, professional skills, and other opportunities in their geographical area.  Natalie English, President, and CEO of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce also discussed areas of strength  and lessons learned.  For more detailed information click here for the presentation.