The NC General Assembly kicked off its short legislative session on Wednesday with the primary purpose of adjusting the biennial state budget which became law in October of 2023. In addition to budgetary items and other bills that meet alternate eligibility requirements, any bill that completely passed either chamber during the long session is eligible to be considered in the short session. Click here to view a helpful chart of K-12 education crossover bills (i.e., bills from the 2023 long session) that are eligible for the short session.

This short session may prove especially interesting, considering the state of North Carolina has a projected $1.4 billion surplus through 2024-2025. Economists with both the Office of State Budget and Management and the Fiscal Research Division at the NC General Assembly released their Consensus General Revenue Fund Forecast last week.

With the projected surplus in mind, Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) has indicated that Republican-led House wants to further expand the Opportunity Scholarship program which provides taxpayer funding for private school tuition. According to an article in Education NC about the projected surplus, Speaker Moore is quoted saying an additional $300 million is needed to fully fund the program to meet the demand, adding to the hundreds of millions currently in the state budget. A total of 72,000 Opportunity Scholarship applications were received following the passage in last year’s budget to make private school vouchers available to any North Carolina student regardless of the family’s income level.

Not everyone supports these private school vouchers, namely, NC Governor Roy Cooper. When it comes to the state budget, the Governor’s duty requires that he make a budget proposal first and then legislators may consider parts of that proposal, or ignore it altogether, when writing their budget proposals. Before either chamber convened on the first day of the short session (April 24), Cooper released his proposed budget, in which he calls for “a moratorium on taxpayer-funded private school vouchers that lack accountability and reprioritizes those funds to public schools.”

Governor’s Budget

In addition to the moratorium on vouchers, the Governor’s budget included the following K-12 highlights:

• 8.5% average raise and $1,500 retention bonus for teachers
• Restoring master’s pay for teachers
• 5% salary increase (previously slated for 3%) for all state employees and non-certified public school employees and up to a $1500 multi-installment retention bonus for most state employees
• $44.6 million to fund additional school health personnel (counselors, nurses, social workers, and psychologists) to support student mental and physical health
• Funding for 700 additional teaching assistants in grades K-3
• $56.8 billion to remove the 13% funding cap and increase funding for children with disabilities
• $745 million investment in childcare and early education
• $2.5 billion school construction bond
• $34.7 million to offer Read to Achieve to middle school students
• $11 million to strengthen the pipeline of new teachers
• $217 million for crucial support programs for disadvantaged students, children with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency

In response to the Democratic Governor’s budget proposal, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) was quoted in the News & Observer: “…I don’t know that we can go as far as what the governor is talking about — whether we’ll do any of those things.”

Click here to read Governor Cooper’s budget proposal and here to read his press release on the budget. To read more on the Governor’s budget and how it might fit into the short session, check out this Education NC article.

Committee Meetings

The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Information Technology met on April 18 to discuss broadband expansion and the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) workforce.

• The NCDIT is making progress in their expansion of broadband across NC, but hundreds of thousands of serviceable locations remain unserved or underserved.
• While NC’s internet connectivity for school facilities is in “a really good position” relative to other states (according to Nate Denny, NCDIT Deputy Secretary for Broadband & Digital Equity), the challenge is the “homework gap.” This gap describes when students are unable to complete online assignments at home due to a lack of internet or connectable technology. NCDIT says they are working to address the issue.
• NCDIT is focused on their student outreach program to grow awareness of IT-related opportunities in state government for public middle and high school students.

Click here to view the full presentation.

Education Bills Filed This Week

Statewide Bills:

HB 900 Substitute Certain CIHS Partners/Wake. (Primary Sponsors: Representative Erin Paré, R-Wake; Representative Sarah Crawford, D-Wake; Representative Ya Liu, D-Wake; Representative Maria Cervania, D-Wake)

• Section 1 only applies to Wake County.

• Requires the State Board of Education to approve the substitute of a new partner higher education institution for the Wake Young Men’s and Women’s Leadership Academies, beginning as early as the 2024-2025 school year.
• Allows the appropriation of recurring funds from the General Fund to the Department of Instruction for the 2024-2025 fiscal year for tuition payments for Cooperative Innovative High Schools.

Read the News & Observer report on HB 900 here.

HB 914 Buncombe County Schools Redistricting/Funds. (Primary Sponsor: Representative Lindsey Prather, D-Buncombe)

• Only applies to Buncombe County.
• Reimburses Buncombe County Schools for redistricting costs.

Local Bills:

HB 902 School Calendar – Hertford Align With CC. (Primary Sponsor: Representative Bill Ward, R-Pasquotank)

• Allows Hertford County Schools to align their school calendar with the school calendar of Roanoke-Chowan Community College.

HB 907 School Calendar – Chatham Start Date/Testing. (Primary Sponsor: Representative Robert T. Reives II, D-Chatham)

• Allows Chatham County Schools (except for year-round schools) to schedule the opening date for students no earlier than the Monday closest to August 10, and the closing date for students would be no later than the Friday closest to June 11.

For a complete list of school calendar bills filed in the 2023-24 legislative session, click here. Newly filed bills are highlighted.