Legislators to Convene this week: Hurricane Florence Recovery

The State Board of Education (SBE) members and staff express our heartfelt sympathy for the impact Hurricane Florence has had on so many of you personally, as well as the loss to our students, schools, employees, families and friends. We extend a special thanks to everyone who has worked around the clock to assess and manage school damages, while also working to ensure the needs of your students, employees, community members and families are being met.

SBE members have joined a bipartisan group of current and former North Carolina education leaders to launch FAST NC – Florence Aid to Students and Teachers of North Carolina.  This fundraising initiative is focused on helping the state’s public schools, as students and educators struggle to return to normal following the impacts of Hurricane Florence.  Donations are beginning to come in and partnerships are being fostered.  FAST NC will take donations through the existing NC Education Fund overseen by the State Board of Education  . Click here to donate or to learn more about how to request funding.  Please help us spread the word through all of your social media outlets and contacts.

With 28 of our 100 counties now declared a federal disaster area, the Governor and General Assembly are laser-focused on providing solutions around the recovery of so much of our great state.  The Governor issued a Proclamation to convene a special session on Tuesday, October 2 to address Hurricane Florence recovery issues.  Law makers will come together to address the emergency items on Tuesday but will continue gathering data to determine longer-term needs and solutions.

Senate Education Committee co-chairman Michael Lee (New Hanover), House Education K-12 Committee co-chairman Craig Horn (Union) held a press conference Monday to announce plans to introduce legislation at the upcoming special session to provide relief to school systems and teachers affected by Hurricane Florence.  Lee and Horn are working together on legislation that would alleviate some of the concerns expressed by teachers and employees at school systems that are expected to be out for an extended period of time in the wake of Hurricane Florence. There was some worry among teachers and school employees that they would have to use vacation or personal days for the period of time that schools were closed. Legislators are looking at a number of possibilities on how to address this, including waiving some or all of the days missed due to the storm.

October State Board of Education meeting

The State Board of Education will hold its monthly meeting October 3 - 4, 2018. At the top of the agenda is the update on Hurricane Florence's Impact on NC Public Schools. Dr. Lynn Harvey, Section Chief, Child Nutrition will cover nutritional services; Ms. Eileen Townsend, Chief of Insurance will review insurance claims and Mr. Kevin Harrison, Section Chief, NCDPI Transportation Services will update the board regarding bus and other modes of school transportation. 

Florence Aid to Students and Teachers of North Carolina – FAST NC will also be discussed.  This effort is to help our state’s public schools following Hurricane Florence. The steering committee for FAST NC is:

• June Atkinson, former State Superintendent
• Eric Davis, State Board of Education Chairman
• Henry Johnson, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education and former Mississippi State Superintendent
• Mark Johnson, State Superintendent
• Phil Kirk, former State Board of Education Chairman
• Mike Ward, former State Superintendent

The Board also plans to swear in new members to fill the seats of Bill Cobey, Rebecca Taylor and Greg Alcorn covered previously in this update.

See complete agendas: October 3, 2018 and October 4, 2018.  

Want to Change the World?  

The 2018-2019 Teaching Fellows application opens in October

The North Carolina Teaching Fellows program application for the 2018-2019 academic year will be opening in October. The program is a "merit-based, competitive, forgivable loans for service scholarship program for highly-qualified students committed to teaching in a STEM or special education licensure area in NC public schools, traditional school, or charter school."

To learn if you are eligible and to apply for this incredilbe opportunity to Change the World, visit www.ncteachingfellows.com 

Applications are available beginning October 2018 

Click here to view the application. 

Deadline:  January 7, 2019  

2018 Short Session link for bills impacting K-12 education. 

2017 Long Session link for a complete list of bills impacting K-12 education including budget items.