H97 - 2015 Appropriations Act, Sec. 8A.1: Legislative Findings (SL 2015-241)

Overview: Sec. 8A.1 of S.L. 2015-241 states that the General Assembly finds that some local boards of education (local boards) have failed to comply with the requirements of the judiciary's decisions in Leandro vs State of North Carolina to provide all public school students the opportunity to receive a sound basic education. Even though there has been a history of adequate State and local funding and legislatively granted flexibility in administration, management, and employment at the local level to provide tools to facilitate compliance with Leandro, some local boards have failed to take actions sufficient to:

• Prevent education bureaucracies from interfering with and overriding accountability measures and education reforms required by State law.
• Properly administer the public schools.
• Provide high quality principals in every school and high quality teachers in every classroom.

The section further states that it is the intent of the General Assembly to provide additional direction, authority, and resources to local boards and to the State Board of Education to enable them to correct these deficiencies.

This section became effective July 1, 2015.