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Update: June 20 at 11 a.m. — On Thursday, June 19, both House Bill 832 and House Bill 378 passed the Senate and were sent to the House for concurrence. HB 832 is the education omnibus that includes changes to charter school oversight, and HB 378 includes multiple community college provisions, along with authorization for name, image, and likeness (NIL) agency contracts for student athletes.
If the House passes them without changes, they will go to the governor.
Lawmakers reconvened at the General Assembly to push a flurry of bills through the Senate and House education committees this week.
At the Senate Education/Higher Education Committee meeting on Wednesday, among the bills up for discussion was a proposed committee substitute (PCS) which would convert House Bill 832 into an “Education Omnibus.” Originally, the bill would have expanded the types of trainings for which school safety grant funds could be used. Now, that expansion is one of several provisions included in the omnibus bill.
One of the other provisions in the proposed omnibus bill comes from Senate Bill 689 (=HB 556), entitled “Charter Schools Review Board Omnibus,” which never made it past the rules committee.
The provision would shift additional power from the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction — presently, Democrat Maurice “Mo” Green — to the Charter Schools Review Board (CSRB).
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The CSRB was formerly the Charter School Advisory Board, which made recommendations to the State Board of Education. Following a change in 2023 law, the CSRB was created and now has sole authority to review, approve, deny, and renew charter applications. In a 2023 statement, the chair of the board said, “The mission and work of the CSRB basically remains the same — to ensure the existence of high-quality charter schools in the State of North Carolina.”
The membership of the CSRB is as follows:
- Four members appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Senate President Pro Tempore.
- Four members appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
- Two members appointed by the state Board who are charter school advocates and are not current members of the state Board.
- The lieutenant governor or the lieutenant governor’s designee.
- The state superintendent of public instruction, or the superintendent’s designee, as a non-voting member.
Under the proposed provisions in the bill, any rule or policy adopted by the state Board regarding charter schools must first be approved by the CSRB. Currently, they must be recommended by the CSRB. Additionally, the provision would shift the executive director of the North Carolina Office of Charter Schools from reporting to the Superintendent of Public Instruction to the CSRB.
Sen. Sophia Chitlik, D-Durham, questioned the provision, saying the authority to approve rules and policies “seems to be a constitutional authority for the Superintendent, who’s elected by the people of this state.”
Sen. Brad Overcash, R-Gaston, said the ultimate appellate right goes to the state Board, and therefore the provision is constitutional. Legislative staff agreed, saying ultimate authority is still vested in the state Board.
Sen. Gladys Robinson, D-Guilford, asked why the executive director of the Office of Charter Schools should report to the CSRB instead of the superintendent.
“It’s a policy decision, Sen. Robinson,” Overcash said. “I don’t know how to explain it any more clearly than it’s a policy decision that we’re making.”
Other provisions of the bill include:
- Shifting authority from the state superintendent to the CSRB for establishing standardized procedures around the transfer of local funds from districts to charters.
- Providing for CSRB review of charter federal funding decisions.
- Allowing the CSRB to require school improvement plans from low-performing or continually low-performing charter schools, and exempting other charter schools from state requirements regarding school improvement plans.
On Thursday, Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, said the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) had emailed committee members Wednesday night questioning whether the bill would violate the North Carolina Constitution, citing Article IX, Section 5. The section reads:
The State Board of Education shall supervise and administer the free public school system and the educational funds provided for its support, except the funds mentioned in Section 7 of this Article, and shall make all needed rules and regulations in relation thereto, subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly.
“The Superintendent and State Board of Education take seriously their constitutional duties to guard and maintain the right to a public education for every student in North Carolina,” the email says. “The proposed provisions in the PCS of House Bill 832 would undermine the Superintendent and the State Board’s ability and constitutional authority for ensuring every public school student has access to an excellent public education.”
In response, Senate Majority Leader Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, pointed out the final phrase of the sentence from the state constitution: “subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly.”
The PCS For HB 832 passed the committee after a voice vote on Thursday. In addition to the CSRB changes, the education omnibus bill also includes provisions on expanding automatic enrollment to english language courses, parent choice in nursing service providers required by individual education programs (IEPs), and the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program. You can read the full bill here.
Now, here’s a look at some of the other notable legislation discussed this week.
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Tracking technology turnover in schools
The House K-12 Education Committee passed Senate Bill 449, a bill centered around financial planning for technology use in schools.
If it were to become law, the State Board of Education, N.C. Community College System (NCCCS), and UNC System would have to track the costs and “potential for innovation” with technology and software that their schools acquire. Public schools would have to report the “break/fix rate” for school-issued technology by Aug. 15 of each year.
The “break/fix rate” is defined in the bill as “the percentage of school technology devices that have been reported as malfunctioning or requiring repair prior to the life cycle period not covered by insurance.” The report would also recommend ways to minimize the device turnover, the bill says.
Sen. Lee said during the House committee meeting that the bill was filed so that all three education systems can start looking at technology costs long-term.
“The cheapest today is not always the cheapest long term,” Lee said. “I do think the state is looking toward investments in technology moving forward as we move away from textbooks and with the textbook commission possibly being eliminated in the various budgets. This is the kind of data that we will need in order to move forward with funding technology as a state. And I think it might be very important information as we move forward.”
These requirements are also mentioned in the Senate and House budget proposals.
The bill also included a section that would require school districts to publish the salaries of their central office staff. No later than Aug. 15, each local board of education would have to publish the following for each employee:
- The department their position is housed in,
- Title,
- The date the position was created,
- Description of the position, and
- Salary and all of its funding sources.
The House previously filed a bill, House Bill 56, which requires the same information to be published.
School criminal background checks
Rep. Brian Biggs, R-Randolph, also presented an amendment to House Bill 775, which he co-sponsored. The bill would require charter school board members, initial applicants for a North Carolina teaching license, and public school unit personnel to undergo criminal record checks. The current law in place gives local school districts the freedom to decide who to background check.
Biggs said that people can slip through the cracks of the current background check systems and it leaves school systems with a “black eye.”
“And we want to protect our students, we want to protect our staff — both certified and classified personnel — but we (also) want to make sure that we’re doing the right thing,” Biggs said.
Rep. Julie von Haefen, D-Wake, said that the cost of getting a criminal record check done would be an additional burden on an educator seeking licensure in this state. She also said that she wished the bill included private schools.
“I think the concern is that, again, we’re kind of making duplicative efforts and also that we’re requiring additional staff, money, processing time, all these things without giving our districts or DPI any additional funding to do this,” von Haefen said.
Biggs said that he estimated the cost to be between $14 and $38 per person, which would be a “small price to pay” to ensure the safety and security of schools.
The bill would immediately go into effect if and when it becomes law.
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Community college construction
At the Tuesday House Higher Education Committee meeting, three bills centered on community college construction were voted through the committee. Those bills were Senate Bill 108, Senate Bill 149, and Senate Bill 174, and they would affect Johnston Community College, Blue Ridge Community College, and Isothermal Community College, respectively.
In essence, the bills would authorize the counties of the respective community colleges to construct community college buildings on their campuses without going through the state for approval and oversight.
Rep. Timothy Reeder, MD, R-Pitt, asked whether, given the fact that multiple community colleges are seeking this authorization, it is worth changing “the fundamental process of the state being involved with these decisions.”
“Local folks that are working on these construction projects on behalf of the college, or college employees, will be able to point out to you some cost savings that can occur by going with a little bit different (of a) process and route,” said Sen. Benton Sawrey, R-Johnston. “And oftentimes they try and find ways to exempt themselves from state construction. So I do think it’s probably a larger conversation to have.”
LMS and dual enrollment bills
Also passed through the committee was the Senate Bill 133 House PCS, which would allow NCCCS to solicit a Learning Management System (LMS) for all community colleges. Currently, community colleges across the system can each select their own LMS.
And on Thursday, a PCS for House Bill 378, which combined many previously filed bills into one that would require community colleges to report the grades of minor students to their parents, passed the committee.
Among other things, that bill now includes the following provisions:
- Technology cost considerations and a report on break/fix rates, as required in SB 449.
- Requiring the State Board of Community Colleges to adopt a policy requiring colleges to provide the educational records of minor students to their parents, with some exceptions.
- The expansion of academic transition pathways from juniors and seniors to also include sophomores. Currently, some community colleges offer dual enrollment opportunities to sophomores, but it is not required by law.
- Authorization for name, image, and likeness (NIL) agency contracts for student athletes. You can read more about this provision starting on page 7 of the bill.
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