Education remains our top priority in the General Assembly and while our smaller budget prevented us from investing more this year than we had in previous years, we were still able to address many important issues. Providing our children with a world class education is the best way to build a strong economy that will be sustainable in the long term, so we worked diligently this year to pass legislation that will improve the quality of education across the state, keep our children safe at school, and decrease the dropout rate.
The following information highlights significant legislation passed this year pertaining to North Carolina public schools.
If you have any questions or if I can be of assistance, please feel free to contact me. Thank you as always for your interest in the work of the General Assembly and state government and thank you for your support.
Budget
_This year’s budget includes funding for 12 additional Learn and Earn high schools in North Carolina that will be operational in 2009-2010. The Learn and Earn initiative is a free program that allows high school students to get a jump start on their college education or to gain career skills. At this time, there are 60 Learn and Earn high schools across the state.
_We continued to fund Communities in Schools of North Carolina, Inc (CIS). Last year, more than 21,000 students at-risk of dropping out were provided case managers by CIS, and 98 percent of them stayed in school.
_We continued to fund the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching. The center serves as a resource to teachers throughout the state. The budget will transfer the Center to SBOE from the UNC Board of Governors.
_Our budget this year will provide $13 million in recurring funds for additional dropout prevention grants. Dropout Prevention Grants provide funding on a competitive basis to local school administrative units, schools, local agencies, or nonprofit organizations to support programs that address dropout prevention. The additional funding for this program can be used to provide continued funding to past grant recipients or to fund new recipients. The maximum grant size is $175,000.
_In this year’s budget, we fully funded enrollment growth in community colleges. - $58 million
_In this year’s budget, we fully funded enrollment growth in universities - $44 million
Dropout Prevention
_Legislation that will encourage policies to facilitate graduation has been signed into law (HB 187 – S.L. 2009-330). The law directs local boards of education to encourage local businesses to adopt personnel policies to permit parents to attend school conferences. The law also encourages local boards of education to adopt policies to implement programs that: (1) assist students in making a successful transition between the middle school and high school years, (2) increase parental involvement in student achievement, and (3) reduce suspension and expulsion rates and encourage academic progress during suspensions. In addition, the law directs local school boards to modify policies on pregnant and parenting students that would better enable those students to graduate.
_ The Parent & Student Educational Involvement Act requires schools to provide specific information to parents when recommending that students receive a long-term suspension or expulsion (HB 218 – S.L. 2009-61). The new law requires local school boards to give written notice to the student's parent, guardian, caregiver, or other person legally responsible for the child. The notice has to describe the incident leading to the recommendation and the specific provisions of the student conduct policy or rule alleged to have been violated.
_Educators could intervene sooner to help at-risk students through plans intended to improve their school performance under a bill that has been ratified by the General Assembly and sent to Gov. Perdue to be signed into law. Existing law allows personal education plans to be developed based on students’ performance on end-of-grade tests. The legislation (HB 804 – S.L. 2009-542) would allow educators to step in if they determine the student is at risk of failing based on grades, observations, state assessments or other factors.
_The high school graduation project is no longer required for graduation under a new state law (HB 223 – S.L. 2009-60). It has been demonstrated that the existence of this additional requirement has exacerbated the dropout problem amongst already at-risk students. The new law also directs the Program Evaluation Division of the General Assembly to study the cost and effectiveness of requiring a high school graduation project.
Safety
_Anti-bullying legislation has been ratified by the General Assembly and signed into law (SB 526 – S.L. 2009-212). The legislation requires public school districts to approve anti-bullying measures that name specific groups as possible targets. The legislation defines bullying as behavior that places students or school employees in fear of harm or damage to their property.
_The children of this state are now protected from cyber-bullying under a new state law that makes cyber-bullying a criminal offense punishable as a misdemeanor (HB 1261 – S.L. 2009-551).
_Law enforcement agencies are required to notify the school if a student is validated as a gang member under a new state law (HB 1327 – S.L. 2009-93). The law also authorizes local boards of education to place reasonable conditions on the enrollment of gang members.
_A new state law requires each local board of education to certify to the State Board of Education that its high school and middle school science laboratories are equipped with appropriate personal protective equipment for students and teachers (HB 42 – S.L. 2009-59). In addition, the State Board of Education, in consultation with local boards of education and the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina, must evaluate and modify, as necessary, the academic requirements for students preparing to teach science in middle and high schools to ensure that there is adequate preparation in issues related to science laboratory safety.
_The Nicolas Adkins School Bus Safety Act is a new state law that allows evidence from automated camera and video recording systems to be used to detect and prosecute drivers who pass stopped school buses (HB 440 – S.L. 2009-147). The law is named for a 16-year-old student killed in Rockingham County earlier this year after a driver who passed his stopped school bus struck him with her car.
Miscellaneous
_The "Healthy Youth Act" has been signed into law (HB 88 – S.L. 2009-213). All students will now be exposed to both abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education. The law also allows parents to remove their children from any portion of the course.
_Gifted students under the age of 16 may continue to attend community colleges under a new law that re-enacts a law that expired last September (HB 65 – S.L. 2009-46). The law also allows for students under the age of 14 to enroll in a Learn & Earn online course through a community college for college credit if that student has received appropriate approval. The intent of the law is to serve the bright young people of North Carolina who want to get a head start on their college education.
Prepared with the assistance of the Speaker’s Office of Communications
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Regular Reports On What Is Happening In the NC General Assembly of Interest to citizens in District 51 by Representative Jimmy Love
