May 2016

ASD Bill Passes Committee-House Vote Possible Next Week

HB 1080- Achievement School District, passed out of the House K-12 Education Committee this week. The 18-11 vote came after a good deal of discussion about the wisdom of allowing for-profit charter management groups to take control of some low-performing public elementary schools. “Every year a kid stays in one of these failing schools is a year lost. You can’t get them back,” bill sponsor Rep. Rob Bryan (R-Mecklenburg), told the committee.

Rep. Kyle Hall (R-Stokes) attempted to add an amendment establishing that the State would be responsible for repair and renovation costs of schools that are taken over by the charter management groups through the ASD.  Opponents of the amendment argued that it would set a bad precedent since school capital costs have historically been a local responsibility.  The amendment did not pass.

Some committee members asked Rep. Bryan about the mixed results of ASD programs in other states such as Tennessee.  Rep. Bryan responded that the program in HB 1080 is different because it puts prerequisites on any group applying to manage a school in the ASD. “The guardrail we put on this is that you’ve got to be a successful operation,” he said.

HB 1080 is extremely likely to come up on the House floor next week, potentially as early as Tuesday.  Please be contacting House member(s) in opposition (click here for contact info).  As soon as it is scheduled we will send you an Alert so please watch your email closely.

Click here for the NCSBA issue brief on this.

The charter school community is continuing to push strongly for the House to concur with HB 539.  While it remains important that you maintain contact with your House member(s) in opposition, it is also critical to be communicating locally to develop grassroots opposition to HB 539 within your communities.  Reach out to local PTAs and other community groups that support public education, make sure they understand what is at stake with HB 539, and get them involved in spreading the word to parents and concerned citizens.  These types of efforts are happening on the charter side.  For example, proponents of HB 539 are spreading their message of “fair funding” on social media using the hashtag #fairfundsnc.  Charter schools are also sending to their parents call to action messages such as this (click here).  School districts need to be countering these efforts.  Remember that HB 539 could come up at any time.

Resources & Points to Remember

Below are materials and informational items to circulate in your communities.

*A one-page sheet with talking points on HB 539 can be found here.

*A short video on this issue can be found here.  Make sure to continue sharing this video on social media and encourage others to do so.

*A longer Myth/Fact sheet on the issue can be found here.

*Legislators and others need to understand the pots of monies that school districts would have to transfer if HB 539 becomes law (reimbursements, gifts, federal grants, etc.).  A review of the types of monies at risk can be found here.  

*Charter schools can already seek out many of the monies at issue in HB 539 without having to take them from school districts.  For example, school districts would have to transfer E-rate reimbursements under HB 539 but charters already have the ability to seek out E-Rate reimbursements if they so choose.

*There are policies and laws that limit how federal grants and reimbursements are used and which students may be served.  Charters continue to claim that despite these policies and laws, they should be entitled to a share of federal grants and reimbursements that a school district receives.

*Charters continue to claim that charter students receive only 75 cents for every dollar provided to LEAs.  This is a flawed calculation based on factors unrelated to per-pupil funding and reflects an apples-to-oranges comparison of district and charter funding.

Budget News

Senate budget writers are expecting to finish their budget over Memorial Day weekend, possibly making it publicly available as soon as Tuesday.  The budget would move through the Senate’s finance and appropriations committees Tuesday or Wednesday with the full chamber taking a final vote by the end of next week.  “We’re going to be heavy with the budget over here,” said Sen. Tom Apodaca (R-Henderson).

This week Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) held a press conference to provide an overview of what the Senate will be doing with teacher pay in its budget.  The Senate’s plan adds $538 million to base pay over the next two years to bring the average annual teacher salary to approximately $54,000. Senator Berger explained that this would make North Carolina the regional leader in teacher pay.  “If everything else remains stagnant, teachers will receive almost $200,000 in additional pay over the course of their career under this plan,” Sen. Berger said.  It was also explained that the Senate’s plan allows teachers to get max out at the top of the pay scale year 15 (currently 25).  “We think this is the right plan for teachers in North Carolina at this time,” Sen. Berger said.  The proposal as outlined is bigger than the average 4.1% teacher pay raises the House included in its budget.  Sen. Berger also announced that raises for other school and state employees would be disclosed when the Senate budget is made public.

Click here for a video of Senator Berger’s press conference.

Another K-12 item to watch in the Senate budget is whether it includes the language from SB 862- Opp. Scholarships Forward Funding, a bill filed by Sen. Chad Barefoot (R-Wake).  This language would significantly increase funding for the Opportunity Scholarship school voucher program.  A reserve fund would be created and there would be an automatic transfer of funds from the General Fund to this reserve fund to be used to award new vouchers.  Funding for the program would be increased from $17.6 million to $44.8 million for the 2018-19 school year.  This number would rise by $10 million each year thereafter until it reaches $134.8 million in the 2027-28 school year.

House Budget Information

Click here for a summary of the House-passed budget.

Click here to see the line-item adjustments made by the House budget, as prepared by DPI.

Click here to read the budget money report.

Teacher Criminal Background Checks

A Senate committee advanced legislation this week to require all individuals seeking an NC teaching license to undergo a criminal background check.  The bill is SB 867 and it would put the State Board of Education in charge of setting up a criminal background check program for prospective teachers and reviewing the results of those checks.  Prospective teachers would have to pay a fee for the background check but that fee could be paid by the local school board at its discretion.  The legislation lays out dozens of crimes that would disqualify candidates thought to pose a threat to school safety.  Local school boards would continue to decide whether to conduct criminal background checks for other school employees.

Bill Dealing with Anti-Pension Spiking

On Tuesday, the House Pensions and Retirement Committee will take up HB 1134.  Section 6 of HB 1134 makes the Treasurer’s Office exempt from the APA (rule-making process) as it relates to the anti-pension spiking cap (retroactive to January 1, 2015).  This language would negate lawsuits that a couple of local school boards have filed against the Retirement System on the anti-pension spiking issue.

Bills

Action Bills: Click here for a list of NCSBA-tracked bills that had action this week.

Upcoming Legislative Meetings and Events

The House will hold a skeleton session (no votes).

Tuesday, May 31

9:00 AM
The Senate will convene.

10:00 AM
The House Pensions and Retirement Committee will meet and consider the following pertinent bills:
HB 1134- Admin. Changes Retirement System/Treasurer
HB 1137- Treasurer’s 2016 Investment Admin. Changes- AB

10:00 AM
The Senate Finance Committee will meet and consider the following local bill: SB 727-Moore Cty Local Sales Tax Use Restriction

Wednesday, June 1

Thursday, June 2

Leanne E. Winner
Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6686 direct dial

Bruce Mildwurf
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 606-3916 mobile

Bryan Holloway
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6677 direct dial

Charter Advocates Continue to Push HB 539

The charter school community is continuing to push strongly for the House to concur with HB 539.  While it remains important that you maintain contact with your House member(s) in opposition, it is also critical to be making local contacts to develop grassroots opposition to HB 539 within your communities.  Reach out to local PTAs and other community groups that support public education, make sure they understand what is at stake with HB 539, and get them involved in spreading the word to parents and concerned citizens.  These types of efforts are happening on the charter side.  For example, proponents of HB 539 are spreading their message of “fair funding” on social media using the hashtag #fairfundsnc.  Charter schools are also sending to their parents call to action messages such as this (click here).  School districts need to be countering these efforts.  Remember that HB 539 could come up at any time.

Resources & Points to Remember

Below are materials and informational items to circulate in your communities.

*A one-page sheet with talking points on HB 539 can be found here.

*A short video on this issue can be found here.  Make sure to continue sharing this video on social media and encourage others to do so.

*A longer Myth/Fact sheet on the issue can be found here.

*Legislators and others need to understand the pots of monies that school districts would have to transfer if HB 539 becomes law (reimbursements, gifts, federal grants, etc.).  A review of the types of monies at risk can be found here.  

*Charter schools can already seek out many of the monies at issue in HB 539 without having to take them from school districts.  For example, school districts would have to transfer E-rate reimbursements under HB 539 but charters already have the ability to seek out E-Rate reimbursements if they so choose.

*There are policies and laws that limit how federal grants and reimbursements are used and which students may be served.  Charters continue to claim that despite these policies and laws, they should be entitled to a share of federal grants and reimbursements that a school district receives.

*Charters continue to claim that charter students receive only 75 cents for every dollar provided to LEAs.  This is a flawed calculation based on factors unrelated to per-pupil funding and reflects an apples-to-oranges comparison of district and charter funding.

Budget News

House Budget Approved-Senate Moves Next

The House passed its version of the 2016-17 budget this week.  Including compensation increases, the House budget increases appropriations for K-12 public schools by 4.4% above the original spending target for 2016-17.  Teachers with 5-25 years of experience receive an average 4.1% salary increase, with the largest increases going to mid-career teachers.  Other teachers will get a one-time $1,000 bonus.  Most school administrators will get an average 2% increase (with some receiving a $500 bonus).  Non-certified and central office staff will get a 2% raise and a one-time $500 bonus.  Click here to read the Money Report.  See below for more details on the House budget and what happened as it moved through the chamber this week.

On the Senate side, budget writers have said that their budget is not likely to be very different from that of the House except on salaries.  The biggest difference between the House and Senate budgets is expected to be on salaries for teachers, school employees, and State employees.  It is expected that the Senate will turn its budget around within two weeks.  One thing to watch for in the Senate budget is whether it includes the language from SB 862- Opp. Scholarships Forward Funding, a bill filed by Sen. Chad Barefoot (R-Wake).  It would significantly increase funding for the Opportunity Scholarship voucher program.  A reserve fund would be created and there would be an automatic transfer of funds from the General Fund to this reserve fund to be used to award new vouchers.  Funding for the program would be increased from $17.6 million to $44.8 million for the 2018-19 school year.  This number would rise by $10 million each year thereafter until it reaches $134.8 million in the 2027-28 school year.

House Budget Process

Several amendments were offered and passed in both the House Appropriations Committee and on the House floor throughout the week as the budget was developed.  The most notable amendments for K-12 public schools dealt with virtual charters and the Opportunity Scholarship school voucher program.

Virtual Charters

Rep. James Langdon (R-Johnston) ran an amendment touching on the virtual charter pilot language.  A provision had been included in the K-12 education section that allowed the two virtual charter pilot schools to have a higher withdrawal rate than the original virtual charter legislation allowed.  The same provision would also legislatively mandate that several types of students are to be excluded from the withdrawal rate, making it easier for the virtual charters to stay below the higher withdrawal rate caps.  Rep. Langdon’s amendment attempted to remove this provision and return to the original virtual charter language, which set a 25% cap and allowed the State Board of Education to determine what types of students should and should not be counted  in the withdrawal rate.  This amendment passed 59-56.

About an hour later, Rep. Rob Bryan (R-Mecklenburg) successfully ran an amendment that undid most of the Langdon amendment.  Under the Bryan amendment, the rate cap stays at 25% (the existing level) but the State Board would still be directed to exclude five categories of students from the calculation of the withdrawal rate.  The State Board, not the General Assembly, should determine how to calculate a fair withdrawal rate for these schools, as they are the body in charge of overseeing these programs and receiving periodic updates on how they are doing.  Another troubling provision in the virtual charter language would increase the portion of virtual charter teachers who can be non-NC residents from 10% to 20%.

Opportunity Scholarships

An amendment from  Rep. Jeffrey Elmore (R-Wilkes) in the House Appropriations Committee modified the proposed changes to the school voucher program.  The current law allows vouchers to be awarded to kindergarten and grade 1 students even if they have not previously been enrolled in a public school, but caps the portion of newly awarded vouchers they can receive at 35%.  Under the original House budget language, Grade 1 students would have been removed from this cap, meaning that there would be no limit on how many new vouchers they could receive.  Rep. Elmore’s amendment changed this so that grade 1 students go back to being subject to the cap, but the cap itself would go up from 35% to 40%.

Other Notable House Budget Provisions

Vouchers.  There is an increase of $5.8  million to the special education voucher program.

ADM Growth.  Public school ADM growth is fully funded ($46.8 million).

Literacy Coaches.  There is an appropriation of $25 million to put K-3 Literacy Coaches in the lowest performing 20% of elementary schools across the state.  This would be the first State appropriation for literacy coaches in any public schools since the line-item was zeroed out in 2009.

Advanced Teaching Roles/Elevating Educators Act.  Modified language from last session’s Elevating Educators Act is included in the subcommittee’s approved budget.  This provision establishes a three-year pilot program where 10 LEAs would experiment with models of differentiated pay for teachers linked to advanced teaching roles (new or additional roles and responsibilities).  There would be a $1 million set aside for this pilot.

A-F School Performance Grades.  The formula for calculating A-F letter grades for schools is changed from 80% assessment scores 20% growth to a 50-50 split between the two components.  The 15-point scale is also made permanent (it is scheduled to end with this year’s set of grades).

Read to Achieve.  Like last year’s House budget, this year’s House budgets contains several provisions to improve the Read to Achieve program.  Among these would be a requirement for the SBE to expand the types of diagnostic and formative assessments school districts could use to measure reading progress in grades K-3.

Other Funding Increases.  Digital Learning Plan ($9.4 million); Textbooks/Digital Resources ($11.7 million)

Achievement School District

There are lots of conversations happening on House side about the Achievement School District issue and bill.  Be sure to watch your email closely for updates and notable developments on this.

Click here for the NCSBA issue brief on this.

Union School Boards/County Comm Funding Lawsuit Moratorium

A bill was filed this week by Sen. Tommy Tucker (R-Union) to prohibit the Union school board from initiating a legal challenge over the sufficiency of local funding from their county commissioners in the 2016-17 school year.  The bill is SB 881.

Bills

New Bills:  Click here for a list of new bills filed this week that NCSBA is tracking.

4:00 PM
The Senate will convene for session.

5:00 PM
The House will convene for session.

Tuesday, May 24

Wednesday, May 25

Thursday, May 26

Leanne E. Winner
Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6686 direct dial

Bruce Mildwurf
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 606-3916 mobile

Bryan Holloway
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6677 direct dial

*LEAs in Grave Danger of Losing Funds to Charters*

We know that HB 539– Charter School Funding, was discussed in the House Republican caucus this week.  The charter community is continuing to make a hard push in the House to have this bill moved to the floor for a vote.  It is critically important that you communicate with your House member(s) throughout the weekend to express how harmful this legislation would be for your school district and ask them to oppose it.  Remember that if HB 539 goes to the House floor it would only need to receive an up or down vote (not amendable).

When communicating about HB 539 make sure to focus on these points:

(1) Specify the pots of program specific monies that your district would have to transfer if this bill becomes law (reimbursements, gifts, federal grants, etc.).  Click here to learn more about what program specific funds would have to be transferred to charters.

(2) Emphasize that charter schools can already seek out their own gifts, federal grants, reimbursements etc. without having to take them from school districts.  For example, school districts would have to transfer E-Rate reimbursements under HB 539 but charters already have the ability to seek out E-Rate reimbursements if they so choose.

Video and Grassroots Advocacy

Be sure to continue sharing the video that touches on the LEA/charter school funding sharing issue.  The link to the video is: https://youtu.be/Ai1al22B3DU

Also use this fact sheet on the issue at this link: https://ncsbac.org/charter-school-funding-issues

As we reported to you last week, NCSBA and NCASA brought together a group of school board members, superintendents, finance officers, and board attorneys to see if we could develop another way to structure the charter school funding system.  What this group came up with was a compromise that disentangles LEA and charter school funding altogether by providing charter schools with their own funding streams at both the State and local levels.  Legislation to accomplish this was filed this week as HB 1111.  The bill is sponsored by Reps. Charles Jeter (R-Mecklenburg), Leo Daughtry (R-Johnston), Linda Johnson (R-Cabarrus), and Robert Reives (D-Chatham).  You can read more about what HB 1111 does here.

The goals of HB 1111 are to:

(1) Disentangle any financial relationship between LEAs and charter schools.

(2) Provide additional funding for charters (approximately $48 million) that does not come at the expense of LEAs.

(3) Create a system that does not foster lawsuits.

Some in the charter community are already circulating claims that HB 1111 would take money away from and harm charter schools.  The fact is that HB 1111 would generate approximately $48 million in additional funding for charter schools in addition to allowing them to ask county commissioners for capital funding.  To read the details about what HB 1111 does click here.

Budget News

House Education Budget Approved

Budget subcommittees in the House met Thursday to unveil, review, and advance their sections of the House’s 2016-17 budget adjustments.  On the K-12 public education side, the House Ed Appropriations Subcommittee started with a $8.419 billion total spending plan for this fiscal year as established by the biennium budget enacted last session.  The subcommittee proposed an increase of $12.9 million, or 0.2%.  Salaries and benefits for teachers and educators were not part of these adjustments as those items are handled by the full appropriations chairs.  Click here to see the money report and here to see the special provisions.

Below are the notable components of the education budget approved by the subcommittee.

Virtual Charter Pilots.  The approved budget would loosen requirements for the two virtual charter school pilots.

(1) It would allow the virtual charters to have a higher withdrawal rate than the original legislation.  Currently, neither virtual charter can have a student withdrawal rate higher than 24% in any school year.  The approved education budget would raise that to 34%.

(2) It would exclude additional types of students from the withdrawal rate, making it easier for the virtual charters to stay below the withdrawal rate caps.

(3) It would increase the portion of virtual charter teachers who can be non-NC residents from 10% to 20%.

School Voucher Programs.  No new money would be appropriated for the Opportunity Scholarship school voucher program but there would be a statutory change to expand the portion of vouchers that can be awarded to 1st grade students who have not attended a public school.  The current law allows vouchers to be awarded to kindergarten and grade 1 students even if they have not previously been enrolled in a public school, but caps the portion of newly awarded vouchers they can receive at 35%. Under the House budget language, Grade 1 students would be removed from this cap, meaning that there is no limit on how many new vouchers they can receive whether or not they have previously attended a public school.

There is also an increase of $5.8  million to the special education voucher program.

ADM Growth.  Public school ADM growth is fully funded ($46.8 million).

Literacy Coaches.  There is an appropriation of $25 million to put K-3 Literacy Coaches in the lowest performing 20% of elementary schools across the state.  This would be the first State appropriation for literacy coaches in any public schools since the line-item was zeroed out in 2009.

Advanced Teaching Roles/Elevating Educators Act.  Modified language from last session’s Elevating Educators Act is included in the subcommittee’s approved budget.  This provision establishes a three-year pilot program where 10 LEAs would experiment with models of differentiated pay for teachers linked to advanced teaching roles (new or additional roles and responsibilities).  There would be a $1 million set aside for this pilot.

A-F School Performance Grades.  The formula for calculating A-F letter grades for schools is changed from 80% assessment scores 20% growth to a 50-50 split between the two components.  The 15-point scale is also made permanent (it is scheduled to end with this year’s set of grades).

Read to Achieve.  Like last year’s House budget, this year’s House budgets contains several provisions to improve the Read to Achieve program.  Among these would be a requirement for the SBE to expand the types of diagnostic and formative assessments school districts could use to measure reading progress in grades K-3.

Other Funding Increases.  Digital Learning Plan ($9.4 million); Textbooks/Digital Resources ($11.7 million)

House Budget Timeline

The full House budget, including details of employee compensation, is expected to be released Monday morning.  An all-day meeting of the full House Appropriations Committee is set for Tuesday to take up and amend the budget proposal.  From there, the budget is expected to move to the House floor on Wednesday and be approved Thursday.  We also know that the bill number for the budget bill will be HB 1030.

Notable Bills Filed This Week

HB 1080- Achievement School District.  Rep. Rob Bryan’s legislation to mandate that certain low-performing schools be turned over to charter operators via an Achievement School District was officially filed this week.  The bill is HB 1080.  NCSBA opposes this bill because of the significant mechanical and structural problems with dividing school operation responsibility in addition to the lack of evidence of success with this model in other states with this model.  Click here to read more via NCSBA’s Issue Brief.

SB 862- Opp. Scholarships Forward Funding.  This bill was filed by Sen. Chad Barefoot (R-Wake).  It would significantly increase funding for the Opportunity Scholarship voucher program.  A reserve fund would be created for voucher awards and there would be an automatic transfer of funds from the General Fund to this reserve fund that would automatically increase each year.  Funding for the program would be increased from $17.6 million to $44.8 million for the 2018-19 school year.  This number would rise by $10 million each year thereafter until it reaches $134.8 million in the 2027-28 school year.

New Bills: Click here to see all NCSBA-tracked bills that were filed this week.

Upcoming Legislative Meetings and Events

Monday, May 16

10:00 AM
The House will convene for session.

11:30 AM
The Senate will convene for session.

Tuesday, May 17

9:30 AM
The House Appropriations Committee will meet to take up the House budget.

Leanne E. Winner
Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6686 direct dial

Bruce Mildwurf
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 606-3916 mobile

Bryan Holloway
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6677 direct dial

State Budget Update

The Senate and House have agreed on a $22.225 billion spending target for the 2016-17 fiscal year State budget.  This is approximately 0.5% smaller than the total State spending proposal put forward by Gov. McCrory.  It also exceeds the 2% spending increase over the 2015-16 budget that the Senate leader has publicly mentioned.  Agreeing on a total State spending target up front should significantly speed up the budgeting process.

On Thursday, the House Education Appropriations Committee, along with the other House appropriation committees, were given their spending targets.  The chairs indicated that they would be working over the weekend and would have something for the Committee’s consideration on Tuesday or no later than Wednesday.  If this schedule is adhered to the House version of the budget could be completed within the next two weeks.

The House Education Appropriations Committee met three times this week to review the current budgets of and listen to expansion requests from each of the three public education sectors: K-12, Community Colleges, and Universities.  The SBE’s expansion requests for 2016-17 include: teacher pay, digital learning enhancements, professional development, funding for school turnaround efforts, leadership programs for administrators, instructional supplies, assistant principals, nurses, child nutrition, and Cooperative Innovative High Schools.  State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. June Atkinson and State Board Chair Bill Cobey appeared at Tuesday’s House Ed Appropriations Committee hearing to talk about those SBE budget priorities.  You can watch a video of those remarks here and here.  A video of legislators posing questions to Dr. Atkinson and Chairman Cobey is here.

On Thursday, the Committee took public comments including from NCSBA.

LEA/Charter Fund Sharing Issue

HB 539
It is important that you continue to communicate with your House member(s) in opposition to HB 539, the legislation to shift funds from LEAs to charter schools.  Make sure legislators understand the pots of monies that are at risk if the bill becomes law.  Click here to learn more about the pots of monies that HB 539 would obligate school districts to share.  Remember that HB 539 can come up at any moment and would receive only an up or down vote (not amendable) on the House floor. There was some indication earlier this week that the bill might move as early as yesterday.  That was later averted when a meeting was set up for groups representing LEAs and charter schools this upcoming Monday.

Video and Grassroots Advocacy
Also be sure to continue sharing the video that touches on the LEA/charter school funding sharing issue.  The link to the video is: https://youtu.be/Ai1al22B3DU

Also use this fact sheet on the issue at this link: https://ncsbac.org/charter-school-funding-issues

Alternative Charter School Funding Model

During the break between legislative sessions, NCSBA and NCASA convened a group of school board members, superintendents, finance officers, and board attorneys to see if we could develop another way to provide funding for charter schools.

The proposed new funding model, which is described here, provides charter schools with their own funding streams at both the State and local levels.  It is based upon charter schools being treated like a city LEA.  This proposal was approved by the NCSBA Board of Directors contingent upon approval of School Superintendents Association and a statewide convening of board chairs, superintendents, finance officers, and board attorneys.  In light of the meeting being set for Monday (see above story) this proposal was presented to a representative of the NC Public Charter Schools Association on Thursday so that it could be part of the discussions.

School Board Local Funding Lawsuit Authority

One of the top three legislative goals of the NC County Commissioners Associations is:

“Seek legislation to repeal the statutory authority under NCGS 115C-431(c) that allows local school boards to file suit against a county board of commissioners over county appropriations for education.

• The current version of HB561 includes a five-year moratorium on such lawsuits. The bill is in conference and is eligible for short session consideration.
• With more counties experiencing threats of lawsuits, more legislators are interested in the issue. Those from counties that have experienced more extreme conflict between commissioners and school boards have grown more adamant that the issue be addressed.
• Please continue communicating with your House member(s) in opposition to the provision in HB 561 that would put a moratorium on school board legal challenges to local funding.

Talking Points on HB 561 to Communicate to House Members

• If passed, HB 561 has the potential to significantly alter the balance between school boards and county commissions.
• The threat of school boards utilizing the legal action option gives county commissioners incentive to negotiate and take school board concerns seriously both during the normal budget development process and mediation.
• Without the legal action option, county commissioners would have no reason to move away from their position on local funding, making the mediation process essentially meaningless.
• There is also the question of how local boards of education will fulfill the constitutional obligation to provide an opportunity for a sound, basic education if this option is not available. The only other option would be the State.
• The House has already spoken on this issue last session when it voted down a bill to permanently revoke this authority.

Bills

New Bills: Click here to see NCSBA-tracked bills that were filed this week.

Upcoming Legislative Meetings and Events

Monday, May 9

11:30 AM
The Senate will convene.

3:00
The House will convene.

Tuesday, May 10

Leanne E. Winner
Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6686 direct dial

Bruce Mildwurf
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 606-3916 mobile

Bryan Holloway
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6677 direct dial