GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2011

SESSION LAW 2011-388

HOUSE BILL 744

AN ACT to enact the safe students act.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  This act may be cited as the "Safe Students Act."

SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C-364(c) reads as rewritten:

"(c)       The initial point of entry into the public school system shall be at the kindergarten level. If the principal of a school finds as fact subsequent to initial entry that a child, by reason of maturity can be more appropriately served in the first grade rather than in kindergarten, the principal may act under G.S. 115C-288 to implement this educational decision without regard to chronological age. The principal of any public school may shall require the parent or guardian of any child presented for admission for the first time to that school to furnish (i) a certified copy of the child's birth certificate, which shall be furnished by the register of deeds of the county having on file the record of the birth of the child, or other satisfactory evidence of date of birthbirth, as provided in Article 4 of Chapter 130A of the General Statutes and (ii) a certificate of immunization as required by G.S. 130A-155."

SECTION 3.  G.S. 130A-109 reads as rewritten:

"§ 130A-109.  Birth certificate as evidence.

Certified copies of birth certificates shall be accepted by public school authorities in this State as prima facie evidence of the age of children registering for school attendance, and no other proof shall be required. In addition, certified copies of birth certificates shall be required by all factory inspectors and employers of youthful labor, as prima facie proof of age, and no other proof shall be required. However, when it is not possible to secure a certified copy of a birth certificate, school authorities, factory inspectors and employers may accept as secondary proof of age any competent evidence by which the age of persons is usually established.established. School authorities may accept only competent and verifiable evidence as secondary proof of age, specifically including but not limited to: (i) a certified copy of any medical record of the child's birth issued by the treating physician or the hospital in which the child was born, or (ii) a certified copy of a birth certificate issued by a church, mosque, temple, or other religious institution that maintains birth records of its members."

SECTION 4.  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 16^th day of June, 2011.

                                                                    s/  Walter H. Dalton

                                                                         President of the Senate

                                                                    s/  Thom Tillis

                                                                         Speaker of the House of Representatives

This bill having been presented to the Governor for signature on the 17^th day of June, 2011 and the Governor having failed to approve it within the time prescribed by law, the same is hereby declared to have become a law.  This 28^th day of June, 2011.

                                                                    s/  Karen Jenkins

                                                                         Enrolling Clerk