The Week In Review and Looking Forward into Next Week
 House Overrides Budget Veto
The General Assembly has been in full swing this week with a continued focus on the budget and redistricting. On Wednesday, the House was successful in overriding the Governor’s veto of HB 966 2019 Appropriations Act. In doing so, the budget bill has now moved to the Senate for the final step in the process. If the Senate is able to garner the votes to successfully override the veto in their chamber, the bill will become session law. The bill is currently in Senate Rules and it is unknown when it may move to the Chamber for a vote.
While the House was busy overriding the bigger budget bill, the Senate moved forward with another mini-budget focused on school safety funding HB 75 School Safety Funds, Programs, and Reports. This was a committee substitute for the bill previously titled School Mental Health Screening Study. The bill successfully passed the Senate and is now calendared in the House chamber for September 12, 2019. Highlights of the bill are included below. Another bill focused on child safety had some action this week as well, with the House appointing new conference committee members for SB 199 Child Sex Abuse/Strengthen Laws.
Both the House and Senate are scheduled for Session on Monday, September 16, 2019. The General Assembly calendar reflects a continued focus on redistricting next week. The only other item currently calendared is the North Carolina Child Well-Being Transformation Council is scheduled to meet on Friday at 10AM. The legislative calendar can be found here.
Mini Budgets: Next Steps
What Happens to Mini-Budgets if HB 966 Budget Bill Becomes Law?
STATE BUDGET ACT APPLICABILITY – The following language is included in all Mini-Budgets:
“If any provision of the following acts and G.S. 143C-5-4 are in conflict, the provisions of this act shall prevail. The appropriations and the authorizations to allocate and spend funds which are set out in this act shall remain in effect until the Current Operations Appropriations Act for the applicable fiscal year becomes law, at which time that act shall become effective and shall govern appropriations and expenditures. When the Current Operations Appropriations Act for that fiscal year becomes law, the Director of the Budget shall adjust allotments to give effect to that act from July 1 of the fiscal year.”
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Mini Budgets now Session Law:
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Mini Budgets pending further action:
LINK to History of Budget Resources
2019 New K-12 Education Laws
No K-12 education bills bacame session law this week
- List of New K-12 Education Laws and Chaptered Resolutions here.
- Complete List of Bills that are Session Law here.
For complete bill history and summaries, click on the bill link.
HB 107 PED Oversight/EPP Changes was signed into law by the Governor on 7/22/2019. This bill is now SL 2019-149 and it requires three measures of accountability for educator preparation programs.
As a result of this new legislation, new rules could govern educator preparation programs (EdNC) The North Carolina Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission (PEPSC) approved new rules to govern the standards educator preparation programs (EPP). The State Board of Education will review the proposed rules for final approval prior to September 24th.
If the State Board of Education approves the new rules, the following data will be collected for each accountability measure:
- Annual Teacher Evaluation – The percent of graduates from the EPP in their first three years of teaching who achieve a rating of ‘proficient,’ ‘accomplished,’ or ‘distinguished’ on each of the North Carolina Educator Evaluation System standards.
- Student Growth – The percent of graduates from the EPP in their first three years of teaching who achieve a growth rating of ‘meets expected growth’ or ‘exceeds expected growth’ as measured by the North Carolina Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS). Teachers’ composite EVAAS scores shall be used in the calculation of an EPP’s growth measure. No school-level EVAAS data shall be used for an individual teacher.
- Recent Graduate Survey – The percent of respondents from the EPP in their first year of teaching where the graduate perceived that they were ‘well’ or ‘very well’ prepared to carry out key teaching tasks. The recent graduate survey shall capture how well teachers believe they are prepared to meet their responsibilities during their first year on the job. All public school units with a Beginning Teacher Support Program shall require their beginning teachers to participate in the Recent Graduate Survey. The Recent Graduate Survey shall be administered by NCDPI or its designee.
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Relevant Bills with Action
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HB 75: School Safety Funds, Programs, and Reports |
- Appropriates funds for the school safety provisions
- $6.1M non-recurring 2019-2020 for school safety equipment grants
- $4.5M non-recurring 2019-2020 for school safety training grants
- $4.5M non-recurring 2019-2020 for students in crisis grants
- $3M recurring 2019-2020 and $6M recurring 2020-2021 for school resource officer grants
- $20M recurring 2019-2020 and $23M recurring 2020-2021 for school mental health support personnel
- Requires the Center for Safer Schools to conduct a census of school resource officers in public school units.
- Directs DPI and the Center for Safer Schools to develop a recommended program to facilitate the transfer of school mental health support personnel between school districts during or after a crisis.
- Requires annual local and statewide reports on differences in the number of school mental health support personnel in the State from year to year and (ii) expresses the intention of the General Assembly that additional funds provided for instructional support personnel be used to fund additional school mental health support personnel.
- Requires DPI to study and report on school psychologist and school counselor positions. ·
- Funds eight full-time equivalent (FTE) positions for sworn agents at the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) to support the Behavioral Threat Assessment (BETA) program.
BILL SUMMARY
Similar to the other Mini Budget Bills/Session Laws, the below language applies:
“If any provision of this act and G.S. 143C-5-4 are in conflict, the provisions of this act shall prevail. The appropriations and the authorizations to allocate and spend funds which are set out in this act shall remain in effect until the Current Operations Appropriations Act for the applicable fiscal year becomes law, at which time that act shall become effective and shall govern appropriations and expenditures. When the Current Operations Appropriations Act for that fiscal year becomes law, the Director of the Budget shall adjust allotments to give effect to that act from July 1 of the fiscal year."
Education Bills Vetoed by the Governor This Session
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HB 966: 2019 Appropriations Act VETO Message | House veto override on 9/11/2019
- Base budget appropriations for current operations of state agencies, departments, and institutions. Governor Cooper’s veto message states his disappointment in the budget based on differing priorities between the Governor and General Assembly.
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SB 392: Various Charter School Changes BILL SUMMARY VETO Message
- Makes various changes to the laws affecting charter schools. Governor Cooper’s veto message states his concern about the lift on enrollment caps for virtual charter schools due to the low performance of schools in this pilot.
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SB 438: Excellent Public Schools Act of 2019 VETO Message
- An act to modify the implementation of the North Carolina Read to Achieve Program in order to attain statewide reading proficiency by the third grade.
Complete List of Bills Vetoed by the Governor here.
K-12 Education Bills - Last Movement This Week
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Passed the House - Sent to the Senate
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HB 966: 2019 Appropriations Act (House overrode veto - Referred to Senate Rules on 9/11/2019)
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Passed the Senate - Sent to the House
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HB 75: School Safety Funds, Programs, and Reports (Passed the Senate – Placed on House Calendar for 9/16/2019)
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Conference Committee
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Bills that are filed, referred to a committee or calendared for the House or Senate Floor
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Presented to the Governor
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SB 458: PTS Day/Cardiac Task Force/Titus's Law/Data (Conference Report adopted on 9/12/2019 - Presented to the Governor on 9/16/2019)
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SB 553: Regulatory Reform Act of 2019 (Presented to the Governor on 9/12/2019)
- For complete bill history and summaries, click on the bill link.
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- 2019 Long Session LINK for bills impacting K-12 education.
- LINK to K-12 Public Education Bills that made Crossover.
- NCGA Crossover List - LINK.
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September 16 - September 20: Legislative Meeting Calendar
Monday, September 16, 2019
9:30 a.m.: Senate: Session Convenes Senate | Audio
7:00 p.m.: House: Session Convenes House | Audio
Friday, September 20, 2019
10:00 a.m.: North Carolina Child Well-Being Transformation Council 544 LOB | Audio
ONLINE RESOURCES:
This section includes details pertaining to acronyms and bill information referenced throughout the K-12 Education Legislative Update newsletters.
Biennium- A two-year term of legislative activity
Public Bill- Legislation enacted into law that applies to the public at large
Local Bill- Legislation put into law that has limited application (How many counties)- Local bills do not have to be signed by the governor
Sponsor- The legislator who presents a bill or resolution for consideration
Resolution- A document that expresses the sentiment or intent of the legislature or a chamber. Resolutions, when finalized, go to the Secretary of State
Glossary of Legislative Terms- LINK
DPI = NC Department of Public Instruction
LEA = Local Education Agency
NCGA = North Carolina General Assembly
LB/LOB = Legislative Building/Legislative Office Building
SBE = North Carolina State Board of Education
HB/SB = House Bill/Senate Bill
JR = Joint Resolution
SL = Session Law
GS = General Statute
PCS = Proposed Committee Substitute
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OFFICE OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION CONTACT INFORMATION:
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Cecilia Holden – Director of Government and Community Relations | 919-807-3406
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Anne Murtha – Legislative Specialist | 919-807-3403
OFFICE OF THE NC SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION CONTACT INFORMATION:
To view previous 2019 Weekly Legislative Updates click here.
The NC Department of Public instruction offers a number of topics for subscription.
- To subscribe to the Weekly Legislative Update, click here.
- To subscribe to other NC Department of Public Instruction topics, click here.
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