GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1993 SESSION

CHAPTER 61
HOUSE BILL 40

AN ACT TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION TO STUDY VARIOUS ISSUES AFFECTING THE EDUCATION OF AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES TO EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  The Department of Public Instruction shall:
(1)	Study the need to improve and increase in-service materials, programs, and opportunities for regular classroom and exceptional children's teachers.  As part of its study, the Department shall identify and evaluate existing in-service materials, programs, and opportunities for these teachers that focus on the individual needs of exceptional children, modification of curriculum and materials, and inclusion of exceptional children in the full range of programs available to all children in the public schools, and shall evaluate services provided by the Regional Educational Training Centers, as established in Part 4 of Article 9 of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes.
(2)	Study the need for appropriately trained exceptional children's teachers and develop a teacher training scholarship program designed to encourage individuals to become exceptional children's teachers in public schools.
(3)	Propose a plan to identify and evaluate the educational expectations of identified exceptional students, including the academically gifted, and nonidentified disabled students.  As part of this plan, the Department shall consider the effects of the following: types and severity of exceptionalities, special education placements, end-of-course tests, the standard course of study, the School Improvement and Accountability Act of 1989, graduation requirements, transition programs, and any other factor it considers appropriate, on these students in any local educational agency.  In particular, the plan shall establish goals and measurements for all types of placements, including the regular classroom, for these students.
(4)	Identify and evaluate the special education and related services needs of low-incidence populations of exceptionalities, and evaluate the feasibility of centralizing resources, personnel, diagnostic services, and other services to address these needs.
Sec. 2.  The Department of Public Instruction shall make an interim report of its findings and recommendations to the Commission on Children with Special Needs no later than January 15, 1994, and a final report to the Commission on Children with Special Needs no later than October 15, 1994.
Sec. 3.  This act is effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 24th day of May, 1993.

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Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate

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Daniel Blue, Jr.
Speaker of the House of Representatives