North Carolina lawmakers are considering a host of bills that could reshape public school education in the state with legislation impacting how many children are in classes in lower grades, the certifications that teachers must obtain to enter the classroom and even when the school year begins.
School calendar
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House Bill 121 would eliminate restrictions on when school boards can set their start and end dates. That would effectively eliminate the state’s 2004 school calendar law that required schools to start school no later than the Monday closest to Aug. 26 and end school no later than the Friday closest to June 11.
Some schools have had an exemption from that law — mostly western schools that have a lot of snow days — as well as year-round schools, low-performing “Restart Schools,” early colleges and charter schools.
Schools have argued for a change so that schools can take end-of-semester exams before winter break and allow schools and families calendars to align between the K-12 school and any community college an older student might be enrolled in.
Tourism-focused groups argue early starts jeopardize staffing during some of their busiest weeks of the year, especially in coastal regions.
The bill passed the House education committee Tuesday, April 29.
Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, has long resisted a change. But he has proposed compromise legislation this session in Senate Bill 754.
It would allow schools to start the year on the Monday closest to Aug. 19 – one week earlier -- under two conditions: The fall and spring semesters have the exact same number of school days and the school year ends by the Friday before Memorial Day – two weeks earlier than current law.
Some educators have said they were glad a compromise was on the table but others have said they were concerned very few schools could take advantage of the option to start earlier, because of constraints around required holidays and the condensing of the school year by a week.
Berger’s bill has passed a Senate committee.
“Y’all should think about putting together a work group because we’re going to have to respond to that if we choose,” Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, told the House committee. “And I think incorporating some of the House ideas is actually a good idea.”
Class size
Kindergarten through third grade class-size limits would go away under House Bill 806, which would also allow up to half of school teachers to be unlicensed.
Class-size limits have been in place in some form since the 2018-19 school year. They stipulate schools must have an average of only 16 to 18 students in those grades.
House Bill 806 makes those class-size limits suggestions only. It's sponsored by Reps. David Willis, R-Union, Brian Biggs, R-Randolph, Tricia Cotham, R-Mecklenburg and Heather Rhyne, R-Lincoln.
Some school leaders have objected to the class-size limits for lower grades, saying they make it harder to hire teachers in other subjects and grade levels because of limited funds and classroom space.
As a result, they effectively increase fourth- and fifth-grade class sizes. Wake County school board members have long lamented that they also require more schools to be built or trailers bought for classroom expansion, while the district struggles to keep up with building enough schools for the fast-growing county.
Class-size limits were originally intended to improve student achievement and school preparedness at those young grade levels. Research is mixed on the effect of class-size limits nationally, in part because the class-size policies and financial investments in them vary greatly.
North Carolina's class-size limits initially didn't come with any new funding for more teachers. That was until schools began repurposing arts and other specialty teachers for kindergarten through third grade classes, prompting lawmakers to later provide one specialty teacher for every 191 elementary students.
The bill is scheduled to be heard in the House Committee on K-12 Education on Tuesday, April 29
Teacher licensure
The same bill (House Bill 806) also would allow schools to hire unlicensed teachers, something only charter schools can currently do.
In traditional public schools, all teachers must have a license and must meet certain requirements to continue to hold one throughout their careers, including taking professional development courses.
Increasingly, the state is hiring teachers who have one-time licenses and no formal training in education. They are still required to work toward qualifying for a full professional license, if they want to continue teaching. That includes passing certain tests and taking certain courses.
House Bill 806 would still require at least half of teachers to have a license at each school. College degrees would be required for teachers in core subjects of math, science, social studies and language arts.
Unlicensed teachers would need pre-service training in identifying and educating children with disabilities, positive student behavior management, effective communication for de-escalating behavior, and safe and appropriate use of seclusion and restraint.
Another piece of legislation, House Bill 573 and its companion Senate Bill 204, would remove the requirement that prospective teachers take and pass three different exams before becoming licensed teachers. It’s just one of a handful of bills this session that seeks to remove this requirement.
Read more: As NC’s teacher pipeline dwindles, education colleges are getting creative
School performance grades
House Bill 773 would give middle schools more credit for the shares of students who test proficient, make progress on their proficiency or earn a high school course credit.
High schools would get credit for more types of student outcomes, such as passing a college-level course, earning a workforce credential, or scoring a high enough score on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test.
The bill would also reduce the weight of raw test scores on the school's performance grade. Currently, 80% of the grade is the test scores, and 20% is the amount of growth students' achieved on those tests. But the bill would change those percentages to 50%.
It would also lower the point score required to achieve certain grades. An "A" would require only 62 points for an elementary school and 64 points for a middle or high school, instead of 85. An F would be 32 points or lower for an elementary school and 34 points or lower for a middle or high school, instead of 40 points.
The bill is scheduled to be heard in the House Committee on K-12 Education on Tuesday, April 29
School administration
House Bill 56 would require local school boards to publish detailed explanations on what each school system's central office position is and how much employees are paid.
The bill speaks to a common talking point among some parent groups, including Moms for Liberty, that school systems have too many administrators or central office workers. By contrast, school systems, such as Wake County, contend they have far too few central office workers.
Rep. Erin Pare, R-Wake, said it is a “transparency bill.”
The bill passed the House education committee Tuesday, April 29.
Guns in schools
House Bill 193 would allow a person with a valid concealed handgun permit or someone who does not have to obtain one to carry a handgun on private school property.
House Bill 674, which passed a key House committee Tuesday, would permit “defensive devices” in public K-12 schools if they’re secured in enclosures with biometric locks. Biometric locks use unique identifiers such as facial recognition, fingerprints or eye scans.
The proposal defines defensive devices as non-lethal weapons only, like chemical sprays or stun guns, that could be used “in response to a threatening situation in which force was justified.” An earlier version of the measure would have allowed firearms as well, but that was amended out of the bill as commenters lined up to speak out against it.
Only employees with training in how to use the device would be allowed access.
The school administrator would not be required to publicize the presence of the weapon, and schools and authorized employees would be exempt from civil liability for use of the device.
Rep. Jay Adams, R-Catawba, is the primary sponsor. He said having those devices available to trained school employees could save lives in the case of a school shooter.