State News

News & Observer: NC Republicans Reach Budget Deal After Agreement To Drop Casino Expansion
News & Observer: Republicans Release Long Awaited $30 Billion NC Budget With Raises and Tax Cuts
WUNC: 13 Noteworthy Things In The Newly Released NC Budget
WFAE: NC Budget To Expand Private School Vouchers And Strip Power From State Board of Education
WRAL: More NC Families Would Qualify For Private School Vouchers Under Massive Program In State Budget
WRAL: Teacher Raises, School Lunches, Early Graduation, AI, Career Development. Here’s What’s In the NC Budget For Education
Carolina Journal: Legislature Passes $30 Billion Budget, Cooper Will Let Become Law
Carolina Journal: Universal School Choice Makes Its Way Into NC Budget
John Locke Foundation: A Few Education Highlights From the House Budget
NC Newsline: State Board of Education’s Power To Withhold Charter School Funding Restricted Under State Budget Proposal
EdNC: Governor Visits Principal Of The Year: ‘Public Education Has Always Been A Driving Force In North Carolina’s Progress

National News

K-12 Dive: Education Ransomware Attacks Cost Over $53B In Downtime Over Five Years
K-12 Dive: Education Department Issues Details For ARP Spending Extension Requests
Education Week: Top National Assessment of Educational Progress Official Talks About Future Of Nation’s Report Card

Madison Skeens
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
mskeens@ncsba.org

Rob Black
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
rblack@ncsba.org

On Tuesday evening, Senate President Pro-Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) convened a press conference to reveal a budget agreement had been reached. Notably, they announced that the casino provisions would not be included in this budget, with no separate vote on casino legislation planned at this time.

Today, lawmakers made the final state budget figures public, and the crucial budget votes are slated for Thursday and Friday.

Click here to access the budget bill.
Click here to access the budget committee (money) report.

The total General Fund allocation for FY 2023-2024 is $29.7 billion, In 2024-25 the allocation increases to $30.8 billion for a two year increase of 11.4%. For K-12 public education, the budget appropriates $11.5 billion in 2023-2024 for an increase of nearly 2% over FY 2022-23. $11.9 billion is appropriated in 2024-2025, for an additional increase of 3.5% over FY 2023-2024.

The following are K-12 education highlights of the two year biennium 2023-2025 state budget. We will provide a more comprehensive summary in our Friday Legislative Update at the end of the week.

Parents Bill of Rights

Due to implementation concerns raised by the North Carolina School Boards Association (NCSBA) and other groups deadlines for the policies in Part 2 of SB49: Parents’ Bill of Rights have been pushed back to the first day of school after January 1, 2024. The new implementation deadlines can be found in the 2023 Appropriations Act on page 139, Section 7.81(d), line 12.

Additionally, NCSBA sought to continue to allow teachers and other school personnel who provide treatment to students from first aid to emergency care without parental consent. The  fix can be found in the 2023 Appropriations Act on page 138, Section 7.81(c), line 41.

Finally, the budget language also clarifies that parents must be given notice of the opportunity to opt out of any protected information survey given as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey or the National Youth Tobacco Survey. Before this clarification, parents would have been required to opt in. This exemption can be found in the 2023 Appropriations Act on page 138, Section 7.81(b), line 31.

Salary Increases

Teachers and other school employees paid on the Teacher A Salary Schedule will receive an average 7% raise over the biennium. Pay increases for teachers range from 3.6% to 14.7% over the biennium. Raises will be retroactive to July 1, 2023.

Teacher A Salary Schedule

With the exception of school bus drivers, school employees not paid on the teacher salary schedule including principals, central office staff and non-certified personnel will receive an across-the-board salary increase of 4% in 2023-2024 and additional across-the-board salary increase of 3% in 2024-2025. Bus drivers will receive an additional 2% in 2023-2024.

Proposed salary schedule for principals:

2023-2024 Principal Annual Salary Schedule
Avg. Daily Membership            Base             Met Growth         Exceeded Growth
0-200                                         $75,526        $83,078                  $90,631
201-400                                      $79,302        $87,232                  $95,162
401-700                                      $83,078        $91,386                  $99,694
701-1,000                                   $86,855        $95,540                  $104,226
1,001-1,600                                $90,631        $99,694                  $108,757
1,601+                                        $94,407        $103,848                $113,288

2024-2025 Principal Annual Salary Schedule
Avg. Daily Membership            Base             Met Growth         Exceeded Growth 0-200                                          $77,792        $85,570                  $93,350
201-400                                      $81,681        $89,849                  $98,017
401-700                                      $85,570        $94,128                  $102,685
701-1,000                                   $89,461        $98,406                  $107,353
1,001-1,600                                $93,350        $102,685                $112,020
1,601+                                        $97,239        $106,963                $116,687

Additionally, principals can receive a bonus if their school is in the top 50% for growth. Those bonuses are as follows:

2023-2024 Principal Bonus Schedule
Statewide Growth Percentage                                             Bonus
Top 5%                                                                                $15,000
Top 10%                                                                              $10,000
Top 15%                                                                              $5,000
Top 20%                                                                              $2,500
Top 50%                                                                              $1,000

Other pay highlights include:

• School psychologists, speech pathologists and audiologists with a master’s degree or higher shall receive a supplement of 10% of their monthly salary, plus an additional $350 per month.
•  Small and low wealth counties receive dollar for dollar match from DPI to provide teacher signing bonuses up to $1000.
•  Rural school districts will receive an extra $30 million for teacher supplements.

Ethics Training

One of the key items on the NCSBA Legislative Agenda was the implementation of ethics training. We are delighted to report that these provisions have found their place in the final state budget. The budget language explicitly states, “Every employee of a local school administrative unit involved in the creation or management of contracts, as specified in G.S. 14-234, shall undergo a minimum of two hours of conflicts of interest training pertaining to the formulation and administration of contracts.” For comprehensive details on this particular provision, please refer to Section 7.41(a) of the 2023 Appropriations Act, located on page 105, line 30.

Moreover, there are several additional budget provisions that warrant highlighting:

Section 7.27 School Health Personnel Allotment (pages 96-97)

• Removes the requirement for local boards of education to provide at least one school psychologist and requires local boards of education to instead provide school health support services in accordance with G.S. 115C-316.5
• Reflects the transfer of school nurse, counselor, and social worker positions from the Instructional Support Allotment to the School Psychologist Allotment, which will be redesignated as the School Health Personnel Allotment
• Encourages school districts to fill these positions with full-time, permanent employees but allows the allocation to be converted to a dollar equivalent to contract with a third party to provide relevant services
• Prohibits the SBE from requiring that a school nurse obtain a four-year degree as a condition of employment
• Lists the duties of school counselors and career development coordinators

Section 7.36 School Safety Grants (page 100)

• Continues the School Safety Grants Program, which is used to improve safety in PSUs by providing grants for (i) services for students in crisis, (ii) school safety training, (iii) safety equipment in schools, and (iv) subsidizing the School Resource Officer Grants Program
•  $35 million appropriated per year over the biennium

Section 7.44 Teacher Assistant Tuition Reimbursement Program (pages 110-112)

• Expands the Teacher Assistant Tuition Reimbursement Program to all school districts and no longer limits districts from having more than five participants per year
• Lists requirements for applications, award of funds, selection of teacher assistants, and local reporting

Section 7.44A Teacher Apprentice Grant Program (page 112)

• Establishes the Teacher Apprentice Grant Program to provide grants to local school districts to award funds for (i) tuition at educator preparation programs for eligible 2023 NCSBA teacher apprentices and (ii) salary supplements for teacher apprentices who become teachers in the district
• Awards up to $4,600 per semester for up to four academic years

Section 7.45 Economically Disadvantaged Public School Support Funds (page 114)

• Requires DPI to establish the Economically Disadvantaged Public Schools Support Program to provide funds to support the efforts of qualifying economically disadvantaged public schools to continue to exceed growth in subsequent school years
• Clarifies that the funds associated with this Program will supplement and not supplant local funds

Section 7.55 CTE Modernization & Expansion (page 118)

Of the funds appropriated to DPI, up to $2,000,000 in nonrecurring funds for each year of the 2023-2025 fiscal biennium shall be used to create a grant program for modernization of Career and Technical Education programming, materials, training, and professional development for courses conducted in grades six through 12

Section 7.58 Eliminate Student Copay for Reduced-Price Meals (page 119)

• Funds appropriated from the General Fund to DPI for reduced-price school meal copays shall be used to provide school breakfasts and lunches at no cost to students of all grade levels that qualify for reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Program in the current school year
• If the funds are insufficient to provide school meals at no cost to students qualifying for reduced-price meals, allows DPI to use funds appropriated to the State Aid for Public School fund Section

7.59 CEP Meal Program Expansion Pilot (pages 119-120)

• Requires DPI to establish a pilot to expand public school participation in the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program to increase student access to free school breakfast and lunch
• Requires the pilot to be available for the 2024-25 fiscal year with the intent of continuing the pilot through the 2025-27 biennium

7.73 Limited Teacher Licensure Changes  (page 133-134)

• Changes the three-year limited license for teachers from nonrenewable to renewable
• Requires teachers who are renewing a limited license to submit an affidavit from the employing local board of education that is signed by both the principal and the superintendent for the school to which the teacher is currently assigned
• Requires the affidavit to validate specific criteria

7.74 Out-of-State Teacher License Reciprocity (pages 134)

• Modifies the requirements for an out-of-state license applicant by requiring the State Board of Education to grant a Continuing Professional License (CPL) to a teacher licensed in another state with substantially similar licensure requirements who has at least three years of teaching experience and is in good standing with the other state

Section 8A.6 Expand Eligibility for Opportunity Scholarships (pages 187-196)

• Makes all NC K-12 students eligible for Opportunity Scholarships
• Replaces opportunity income requirements with a sliding scale based on household income as follows:

• Incomes not in excess of 100% of the amount required to qualify for federal free or reduced lunch – 100% of tuition per student
• Incomes not in excess of 200% of the amount required to qualify for federal free or reduced lunch – 90% of tuition per student

• Incomes between 200% and 450% of amount required to qualify for federal free or reduced lunch – 60% of tuition per student

• Section 8A.6 (e) creates accountability for the Opportunity Scholarship program through standardized testing. Tests shall be administered to all eligible students enrolled in grades three and 3 higher whose tuition and fees are paid in whole or in part with a scholarship grant as follows:

•  a. The nationally standardized test designated by the Authority in grades three and eight.
• b. The ACT in grade 11.

• Prohibits local boards of education to require more credits to graduate than what is required by the State Board of Education (currently, 22 credits).

For the 2032-33 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, $520.4 million will be appropriated to the Program

Madison Skeens
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
mskeens@ncsba.org

Rob Black
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
rblack@ncsba.org

Madison Skeens
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
mskeens@ncsba.org

Rob Black
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
rblack@ncsba.org

While Jones Street may have seen limited action, the NC State Board of Education (Board) made significant strides to compensate. Notable highlights include a policy adjustment for charter school funding review and a comprehensive presentation by Superintendent Truitt on school testing data and post-pandemic learning loss recovery. Both of these subjects garnered extensive media coverage, and we’ve provided a summarized account of the Board meeting below.

State Board of Education Meeting

The State Board of Education met Wednesday and Thursday of this week. The Board approved the following:

• New SBE Policy on Funding and Accountability for Charter Schools (CHTR-022)
• Student Test Performance Results for the 2022-23 School Year
• Report on Cohort Graduation Rate for the 2022-23 School Year
• Annual Required Reports To The General Assembly
• Updated Policies for the Schools for Deaf and Blind (2023-24 School Year)
• Interscholastic Athletics Rules
• Contracts over $500,000
• Allotment Policy Manual Revisions (ALOT-003)
• Bipartisan Safer Communities Act Competitive Summer Enhancement Grant Program

New SBE Policy on Funding and Accountability for Charter Schools (CHTR-022): After extensive discussion, the State Board approved a new policy addressing funding and accountability for Charter Schools with an eight to three vote. Under the new policy, the Charter School Review Board, recently established by the NC General Assembly (S.L. 2023-110), must submit all approved applications and renewals for charter schools to the State Board. The State Board will then review those documents to ensure the schools are compliant with state and federal funding requirements.

The policy also provides that the State Board may request regular reports on charter school finance, legal compliance, and student performance consistent with constitutional and statutory duties.

For more details, you can review the full policy document here and an accompanying article here.

Student Test Performance Results for the 2022-23 School Year: The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released student test results for the 2022-23 school year, along with corresponding letter grades for schools. Notably, North Carolina students are making steady strides in reclaiming the educational ground lost due to the pandemic, with improvements evident across virtually all grade levels, subject areas, and demographic subgroups. While the scores have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, there is clear progress.  More than one in four of the State’s 2,598 public schools earned a School Performance Grade of an A or B; with nearly two out of every three receiving a C or better.

For more details, you can review the presentation on the 2022-23 Accountability Reports here and access the full report here. For DPI’s press release, click here.

Report on Cohort Graduation Rate for the 2022-23 School Year: The Board approved a report on the cohort graduation rate report for the 2022-23 school year, which provides insights into the percentage of students within the adjusted cohort who successfully graduate with a regular high school diploma within a four-year timeframe. You can access the full report by clicking here.

Annual Required Reports to the General Assembly: The Board approved the following annual reports that are required to be submitted to the General Assembly:

(1) Educational Performance of Children with Disabilities and Implementation of Policies to Improve Performance Outcomes for Students with Disabilities (see report here); (2) Career and College-Ready Graduate Program (see presentation here and report here); (3) Computer Science Participation in Schools (see report here); (4) 2022-23 Fifth Grade Career Awareness Program (see presentation here and report here); (5) Statewide Trends in Student Digital Learning Access (see report here); (6) Statewide summary of the Remote Instruction Plans submitted to DPI for the 2022-23 school year (see report here); (7) Annual census of all children with disabilities residing in the state (see report here); (8) Professional Educator Preparation Standards Commission 2022-23 Annual Report (see presentation here and report here); (9) New student data, whether aggregate data, de-identified data, or personally identifiable student data, included or proposed for inclusion in the student data system for the current school year and changes to existing data collections for the student data system required for any reason (see report here); and(10) State Agency Mobile Device data (see report here).

Updated Policies for the Schools for Deaf and Blind (2023-24 School Year): This action follows the Board’s previous review of policies setting forth admission criteria and procedures. Legal counsel recommended and the Board approved changes to the policy manual. One policy is to be repealed and the process to remove outdated administrative rules is initiated. In addition, the Board has approved policy ESDB–030, which sets forth admissions criteria and procedures for both schools and policy ESDB–031, which defines coverage areas for the eastern and western schools.

Interscholastic Athletics Rules: The Board approved updated modifications to eligibility requirements for participation in interscholastic athletics. The Board also approved modifications  to the reporting requirements for violations of interscholastic athletic rules and penalty rules for interscholastic athletics.

Contracts over $500,000:  The Board approved four contracts each for services involving more than $500,000 in funds.  The Board received reports and approved the following: “Identity Automation Contract” renewal; a contract with UNC at Chapel Hill’s NC Institute for Public Health for specialized instruction; an IES grant assessing long-term impacts of school extension programs on student re-engagement; and a leadership training and support program for low performing schools.

Allotment Policy Manual Revisions (ALOT-003): The Division of School Business proposed changes to the NC Public Schools Allotment Policy Manual which addresses the following: (1) funding for the state school bus replacement program; (2) federal grant programs used to support improvement of health, academic achievement, and well-being of students; and (3) COVID-19 funds used for employing or contracting with specialized instructional support personnel to provide physical and mental health support services for students. To access the proposed changes, click here.

Bipartisan Safer Communities Act Competitive Summer Enhancement Grant Program: The Board approved using the $1.4 million supplemental 21^st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) grant funds awarded under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to fund a CCLC Competitive Summer Enhancement Grant Program for those organizations who are currently receiving these funds. The grant program will fund summer intensive programs designed to improve students’ access to innovative learning strategies focused on reducing chronic absenteeism and increasing student engagement. The RFP will be released Monday, September 11, with technical assistance sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. The deadline to submit the application is October 31^st. Click here for more information. See the application here and the RFP here.

The Board also approved the following items that were reviewed at last month’s meeting:

• State Summary of Academic Gains in Restart Schools and Research Study: Learning Loss and Recovery in Restart Schools (December 2022 Annual Report)
• NC Public School Employees Benefit and Employment Policies (BENF-001)
• Licensure Renewal Requirements (LICN-005)

State Summary of Academic Gains in Restart Schools and Research Study: Learning Loss and Recovery in Restart Schools (December 2022 Annual Report) – The Board approved a report highlighting the performance of 159 schools approved by the State Board for Restart. Among these schools, 21 surpassed expectations in terms of academic gains, while 95 met expectations, and 32 fell short of meeting expectations. For a deeper dive into the specifics, please click here.

NC Public School Employees Benefits and Employment Policy Manual (BENF-001): The Board approved provisions pertaining to eligibility for paid parental leave (S.L. 2023-14) and the use of personal leave. In response to concerns expressed by board members during last month’s discussions, legal staff confirmed that part-time employees are entitled to either eight or four weeks of leave, with their salary adjusted proportionally based on the percentage of a full-time position they occupy.  Legal staff also reported that the language on use of personal leave reflects statutory requirements. Teachers will not be docked pay if they give a reason for the request of personal leave. If no substitute is hired for a teacher, then any substitute deduction will be refunded to the teacher. For more details, see presentation on the paid parental leave policy here.  For changes to the Benefits and Employment Policy Manual, click here.

Licensure Renewal Requirements Policy Amendment (LICN-005): The Board approved updated terminology to clarify revisions to the renewal requirements for expired Continuing Professional License (CPL) reviewed last month. Those with expired CPLs will be eligible for a three-year professional license with a five-year renewal cycle upon completion of eight renewal credits during the three-year period. The lifetime license will replace the retirement license. For more details, click here.  To access the report from last month, click here.

This month, the Board also received these reports:

• State Superintendent’s Report
• Standards Revision Updates
• North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool Update (NCPAT)
• Alternative Schools’ Accountability Model Options
• Recommendations of the Whole Child NC Advisory Committee
• Annual Report on Full Time Equivalency

 State Superintendent’s Report:  Superintendent Truitt’s report included a memo sent to superintendents in August on implementation of the new Parents’ Bill of Rights legislation (S.L. 2023-106). See memo here. Truitt indicated the department is advocating for the legislature to give schools until January to implement the legislation. She hopes this will appear in the budget bill and that the State Board will be able to discuss this next month. Local board of education representative Henry Mercer raised his concern about the time required for teachers to obtain permission to treat certain medical emergencies under the legislation. Chairman Davis asked about and Superintendent Truitt indicated funding should be available through the center for safer schools for the threat assessment teams schools are required to have in the recent legislative mandate.  The Superintendent praised the improved test scores in kindergarten and elementary reading in Halifax County Schools.

Standards Revision Updates:  DPI staff provided the monthly update on the progress of revising standards for K-12 Healthful Living, Arts, Guidance, and World Language standards. Staff reported that surveys on Healthful Living will close September 18, 2023. Surveys on Guidance close September 10. The Standards Writing Team for Arts met July 17^th and is completing the first draft of standards. Surveys on World Language standards will be out soon. See full report here.

North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool Update (NCPAT):  As authorized by the U. S. Department of Education and at the direction of the legislature in 2019, DPI is developing the North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool (NCPAT) with the potential of statewide implementation for grades 4 and 7 in the 2023–24 school year. The proposed NCPAT provides for state mandated assessments to be administered in multiple short testing events throughout the school year. DPI reports that this through-grade component provides a reliable connection between student performance and classroom activity throughout the year. Staff emphasized that this is comparable to the current assessment, and they have the same expectations. The benefit is that teachers will be able to assess students along the way to see where they are and adjust as needed to promote learning. Staff indicated that it will be a local decision whether a PSU wants to use the multi-stage assessment. DPI staff emphasized this will improve the testing experience for students and allow PSUs to obtain a more balanced assessment. DPI will share plans with the state October 6 and plans to go forward with implementation this year. The full report is here.

Alternative Schools’ Accountability Model Options:  DPI reviewed the modified accountability system alternatives selected in several districts for this school year. The requests will be back for State Board approval in October. See selections here.

Recommendations of the Whole Child NC Advisory Committee:  In September 2015, the State Board of Education (SBE) in policy ADVS-009 established the council, now renamed the Whole Child NC Advisory Council. This advisory council meets regularly to recommend how to best facilitate access for all public school children to receive the opportunity for a sound, basic education. The council met five times in 2022-23 to identify priorities for the year ahead and beyond. New chair, Kella Hatcher, JD, who is also the Executive Director of NC Child Fatality Task Force, and other members of the council spoke to the importance of specialized instructional support personnel such as school counselors, social workers, nurses, and psychologists (SISP). The report provided information on the mental health of NC High School Students. Committee priorities include endorsing funding requests for SISP and expanding school-based access to Health Services. Superintendent Truitt noted that parental engagement and having enough credentialed candidates are key. Henry Mercer, the local board advisor, shared about a program in his district that has been successful in getting a number of students  back in school. See report here.

Annual Report on Full Time Equivalency:  This annual report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee provides data disaggregated by enrollment in courses offered by the public school units and those offered through other dual enrollment and joint programs, including North Carolina Virtual Public School, institutions of higher education, and nonpublic schools. See presentation here.

Madison Skeens
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
mskeens@ncsba.org

Rob Black
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
rblack@ncsba.org

Rob Black
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
rblack@ncsba.org

Madison Skeens
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
mskeens@ncsba.org

Rob Black
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
rblack@ncsba.org

Rob Black
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
rblack@ncsba.org

Madison Skeens
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
mskeens@ncsba.org

Rob Black
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
rblack@ncsba.org

Madison Skeens
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
mskeens@ncsba.org

Rob Black
Assistant Director of Governmental Relations
NC School Boards Association
rblack@ncsba.org