Weekly Legislative Update - Sunday, November 4, 2018

North Carolina Public Schools sent this bulletin at 11/04/2018 02:33 PM EST

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Vision: Every public school student will graduate ready for post-secondary education and work, prepared to be a globally engaged and productive citizen through access to needed resources and rigor.

Mission: The State Board of Education will use its constitutional authority to lead and uphold the system of public education in North Carolina that guarantees every student in this state an opportunity to receive a sound basic education.

November 4, 2018

The Week In Review and A Look Ahead

Safe Secure Schools The NC State Board of Education held its annual work session on October 30th and 31st at North Carolina Central University, during which they covered a variety of topics including the 2019-2021 expansion budget and legislative priorities. On November 1st, the Board held their monthly meeting and voted to approve the proposed budget which can be viewed here. For a recap of this week’s SBE meeting, click here and for a copy of the Board meeting agenda and presentation materials, click here.

On Friday, November 2 the House Select Committee on School Safety met at Benhaven Elementary School in Sanford to continue their in-depth examination on ways to safeguard our schools. Harnett County school administrators, and county officials presented to the group of legislators. The meeting agenda is available here.

Following next week's elections, the General Assembly will reconvene for a special session on November 27th, 2018. Their purpose will be to address remaining needs for areas of the state that were impacted most by Hurricane Florence. They will also likely cover any legislative changes as a result of outcomes on the ballots.

November State Board of Education Meeting

2019-2021 Proposed Expansion Budget and Legislative Agenda

As part of the State Board planning session, Kathryn Johnston, DPI Deputy Superintendent of Operations, Maria Pitre-Martin, DPI Deputy Superintendent of Regional Support and Cecilia Holden, SBE Director of Legislative Affairs, outlined in detail the proposed 2019-2021 expansion budget and legislative agenda. The State Board approved the 2% expansion budget request totaling $191M. In addition to these requests, the Board remains supportive of competitive teacher and principal compensation, as well as quality pre-K program availability and NC Teaching Fellows forgivable loans for new teachers.

State Board and State Superintendent priorities were reflected through the largest funding request of $71.5M towards additional school support personnel. This comes at the same time as the fatal school shooting at Butler High School in Matthews. The focus to increase support staff, by providing additional school resource officers, psychologists, social workers, counselors and nurses, will be advocated to the Governor and legislators for their consideration.

The expansion budget requests can be viewed here.

Nationally recommended ratios for school support staff:

One school nurse for every 1,076 students instead of for every 750 students.
One school psychologist for every 1,857 students instead of for every 700 students.
One school counselor for every 351 students instead of for every 250 students.
One school resource officer for every 1,209 students instead of for every 1,000 students.
One school social worker for every 1,427 students instead of for every 250 students.

Legislative Non-Budget Items Under SBE Consideration:

Legislative Request - Talent Recruitment - Retention

$2 Billion Committed to Needs-Based School Construction

A recent needs-based capital grant program passed in the SL 2018-5 provides an additional $2.1 billion in lottery funds in high-need counties for school construction. The goal of the Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund and the $2 billion commitment is to predominantly assist the rural areas with necessary funding to finance school construction.

This lottery Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund supplements the annual $100 million provided through the Public School Building Capital Fund. The additional commitment doubles the state's total to $3 billion by 2028. Counties receiving the Education Lottery Funds will be prioritized based on critical school construction needs, limited ability to generate tax revenue and high debt-to-tax ratios.