GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	1 

SENATE BILL 377

Short Title:  GPAC/BEP Funding.	(Public)
─────────────────────────────────────── 
Sponsors: Senator Martin of Guilford.
─────────────────────────────────────── 
Referred to:  Government Performance Audit.
─────────────────────────────────────── 

February 24, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT A RECOMMENDATION OF THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AUDIT COMMITTEE TO CONTINUE TO FUND THE BASIC EDUCATION PROGRAM, AS SCHEDULED, FOR TEACHERS AND INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT PERSONNEL AND TO REDIRECT THE REMAINDER OF THE FUNDS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  The General Assembly finds that the funding formulas for the Basic Education Program, which were established in 1984, represented the best ideas and estimates at that time regarding improving student achievement in North Carolina.  The formulas did not and could not have considered the significant changes that the State and public education have undergone in the ensuing eight years, such as the economic challenges that the State is facing and educational changes including the increased use of automation in the local school administrative units and the movement to site-based management in the schools.  The General Assembly is committed to the improvement of education and to the complete implementation of the strongest possible Basic Education Program; therefore, it is the intent of the General Assembly to complete the funding of the Basic Education Program, as scheduled, for teachers and instructional support personnel.  It is the intent of the General Assembly to reconsider the anticipated use of the remainder of the funds scheduled for appropriation under the Basic Education Program and to consider redirecting the funds to other State education needs such as (i) instructional and administrative needs identified through the Annual Report Card or other measures in the School Improvement and Accountability Act of 1989, (ii) funding for small and low wealth local school administrative units, (iii) gaps in the current public education program such as the need for comprehensive preschool programs, and (iv) new educational reforms such as school-linked collaborative services.
Sec. 2.  This act is effective upon ratification.