S.L. 2011-379

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2011

SESSION LAW 2011-379

HOUSE BILL 720

AN ACT to enact the school and teacher paperwork reduction act.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1. This act shall be known as the "School and Teacher Paperwork Reduction Act."

SECTION 2.(a) G.S. 115C-12(19) reads as rewritten:

"(19) Duty to Identify Required Reports and to Eliminate Unnecessary Reports and Paperwork. - Prior to the beginning of each school year, the State Board of Education shall identify all reports that are required at the State level for the school year.

The State Board of Education shall adopt policies to ensure that local school administrative units are not required by the State Board of Education, the State Superintendent, or the Department of Public Instruction staff to (i) provide information that is already available on the student information management system or housed within the Department of Public Instruction; (ii) provide the same written information more than once during a school year unless the information has changed during the ensuing period; or (iii) complete forms, for children with disabilities, that are not necessary to ensure compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Notwithstanding the foregoing, the State Board may require information available on its student information management system or require the same information twice if the State Board can demonstrate a compelling need and can demonstrate there is not a more expeditious manner of getting the information.

The State Board shall permit schools and local school administrative units to submit all reports to the Department of Public Instruction electronically.

The State Board of Education, in collaboration with the education roundtables within the Department of Public Instruction, shall consolidate all plans that affect the school community. The consolidated plan shall be posted on each school's Web site for easy access by the public and by school personnel.

The State Board shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by November 15 of each year on the reports it has consolidated or eliminated for the upcoming school year."

SECTION 2.(b) G.S. 115C-12 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:

"(19a) Duty to Consolidate Applications for State Funding. - The State Board of Education shall adopt policies to streamline the process for local school administrative units applying for State funding. The policies shall provide for a consolidation of all such applications."

SECTION 3. G.S. 115C-47(18) reads as rewritten:

"(18) To Make Rules Concerning the Conduct and Duties of Personnel. - Local boards of education, upon the recommendation of the superintendent, shall have full power to make all just and needful rules and regulations governing the conduct of teachers, principals, and supervisors, the kind of reports they shall make, and their duties in the care of school property.

Prior to the beginning of each school year, each local board of education shall identify all reports, including local school required reports, that are required at the local level for the school year and shall, to the maximum extent possible, eliminate any duplicate or obsolete reporting ~~requirements.~~requirements and consolidate remaining reporting requirements. No additional reports shall be required at the local level after the beginning of the school year without the prior approval of the local board of education.

Prior to the beginning of each school year, each local board of education shall also identify software protocols such as NC Wise that could be used to minimize repetitious data entry by teachers and shall make them available to teachers.

Each local board of education shall appoint a person or establish a local paperwork control committee to monitor all reports and other paperwork required of teachers by the central ~~office.~~office and to monitor teachers' access to software protocols that minimize repetitious data entry."

SECTION 4. The Department of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the More at Four Program and the Smart Start Program, shall review all reporting requirements imposed on the public schools relating to the operations of the programs and child care regulation requirements. The Department of Health and Human Services shall reduce the frequency of reporting as appropriate, based upon the review and recommendation of the parties involved.

The Department of Health and Human Services shall report to the General Assembly on its implementation of this section by October 1, 2011.

SECTION 5. G.S. 115C-302.1(b) reads as rewritten:

"(b) Salary Payments. - State-allotted teachers shall be paid for a term of 10 months. State-allotted months of employment for vocational education to local boards shall be used for the employment of teachers of vocational and technical education for a term of employment to be determined by the local boards of education. However, local boards shall not reduce the term of employment for any vocational agriculture teacher personnel position that was 12 calendar months for the 1982-83 school year for any school year thereafter. In addition, local boards shall not reduce the term of employment for any vocational agriculture teacher personnel position that was 12 calendar months for the 2003-2004 school year for any school year thereafter.

Each local board of education shall establish a set date on which monthly salary payments to State-allotted teachers shall be made. This set pay date may differ from the end of the month of service. The daily rate of pay for teachers shall equal midway between one twenty-first and one twenty-second of the monthly rate of pay. Except for teachers employed in a year-round school or paid in accordance with a year-round calendar, or both, the initial pay date for teachers shall be no later than August 31 and shall include a full monthly payment. Subsequent pay dates shall be spaced no more than one month apart and shall include a full monthly payment.

Teachers may be prepaid on the monthly pay date for days not yet worked. A teacher who fails to attend scheduled workdays or who has not worked the number of days for which the teacher has been paid and who resigns, is dismissed, or whose contract is not renewed shall repay to the local board any salary payments received for days not yet worked. A teacher who has been prepaid and continues to be employed by a local board but fails to attend scheduled workdays may be subject to dismissal under G.S. 115C-325 or other appropriate discipline.Teachers shall be paid only for the days employed as of the set pay date. Payment for a full month when days employed are less than a full month is prohibited, as this constitutes prepayment.

Any individual teacher who is not employed in a year-round school may be paid in 12 monthly installments if the teacher so requests on or before the first day of the school year. The request shall be filed in the local school administrative unit which employs the teacher. The payment of the annual salary in 12 installments instead of 10 shall not increase or decrease the teacher's annual salary nor in any other way alter the contract made between the teacher and the local school administrative unit. Teachers employed for a period of less than 10 months shall not receive their salaries in 12 installments.

Notwithstanding this subsection, the term "daily rate of pay" for the purpose of G.S. 115C-12(8) or for any other law or policy governing pay or benefits based on the teacher salary schedule shall not exceed one twenty-second of a teacher's monthly rate of pay."

SECTION 6.(a) If House Bill 22, 2011 Regular Session, becomes law, then G.S. 115C-12(19), as amended by this act, reads as rewritten:

The State Board shall permit schools and local school administrative units to submit all reports to the Department of Public Instruction electronically.

The State Board of Education, in collaboration with the education roundtables within the Department of Public Instruction, shall consolidate all plans that affect the school ~~community.~~community, including school improvement plans. The consolidated plan shall be posted on each school's Web site for easy access by the public and by school personnel.

The State Board shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by November 15 of each year on the reports it has consolidated or eliminated for the upcoming school year."

SECTION 6.(b) If House Bill 22, 2011 Regular Session, becomes law, then G.S. 115C-105.27 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:

"(f) If a local board of education finds that a school improvement plan adequately covers another plan that the local school administrative unit is otherwise required to prepare, the local school administrative unit shall not be required to prepare an additional plan on the matter."

SECTION 7. Section 5 of this act becomes effective July 1, 2012. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 18^th day of June, 2011.

s/ Philip E. Berger

President Pro Tempore of the Senate

s/ Thom Tillis

Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/ Beverly E. Perdue

Governor

Approved 1:10 p.m. this 27^th day of June, 2011