A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to permit career teachers to retain career status when they change school systems or return to teaching after leaving the profession.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑325(c)(2) reads as rewritten:
"(2)	Employment of a Career Teacher. – 			
A teacher hired by any North Carolina public school system shall acquire career status upon employment if the teacher has served as a teacher with career status in any North Carolina public school system within the previous five years."
SECTION 2.(a)  Section 1 of this act applies to all teachers, irrespective of date of offer or acceptance of employment, whose duties in new employment begin on or after July 1, 2004.
SECTION 2.(b)  Section 1 of this act does not apply to a teacher who (i) has obtained career status as a teacher in a North Carolina public schools system and (ii) is serving a probationary period as a teacher on the date this act becomes law.  The employing board shall vote upon whether to grant such a teacher career status near the end of the teacher's current year of employment.  In any event, if the person is reemployed for an additional consecutive year, the person shall automatically become a career teacher. 
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.