S133 - North Carolina Community College System Learning Management System/North Carolina Longitudinal Data System. (SL 2025-62)

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Session Year 2025

Overview: S.L. 2025‑62 (Senate Bill 133) does the following:

  • Directs the State Board of Community Colleges (SBCC) to solicit a learning management system (LMS) for all community colleges.
  • Provides the Community College System Office (System Office) with an exemption from the Department of Information Technology (DIT).
  • Makes changes to the statutes related to the North Carolina Longitudinal Data System (NCLDS).

Community College Learning Management System. – Section 1 of the act requires the SBCC to conduct a competitive solicitation to provide an LMS to all community colleges by December 31, 2025. The transition to the new LMS must be completed by December 31, 2027. Answers to the competitive solicitation must include information about how the LMS would align with the systems (i) offered by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), and (ii) used by the constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina. The SBCC must report to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Education/Higher Education, the House Appropriations Committee on Education, and the Fiscal Research Division on the information received by December 31, 2025.

DIT Exemption. – Section 2 of the act exempts the System Office from the DIT requirements in Article 15 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes but allows it to elect to participate in the information technology programs, services, or contracts offered by DIT, including information technology procurement, by having the SBCC elect to do so in writing.

North Carolina Longitudinal Data System. – Section 3 makes various changes to the statutes governing the NCLDS, including the following:

  • Removing the five year limit on the linkage of student data and workforce data.
  • Removing the requirement that the Governmental Data Analytics Center (GDAC) designate a compliance timeline for electronic transcripts.
  • Requiring GDAC to publish an inventory of the data proposed to be accessible in the NCLDS.
  • Moving the NCLDS from being administratively housed within DPI to DIT.
  • Requiring that the NCLDS act as a data broker for all public school units and the entire Department of Commerce.
  • Requiring the NCLDS and recipients of data in fulfillment of approved data requests to use only aggregated data in public reports.
  • Clarifying that all data collected and maintained by the NCLDS remains owned by the contributors and that all data sharing supported by the NCLDS must comply with applicable federal and State laws and regulations.

Section 3 of the act became effective July 1, 2025. The remainder of the act became effective July 3, 2025.