AN ACT to shorten the probationary period for career teachers 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 who has obtained career status in any North Carolina public school system need not serve another probationary period of more than  one year. The board may grant career status immediately upon employing the teacher, or after the first  year of employment. If a majority of the board votes against granting career status, the teacher shall not teach beyond the current term. If after  one year of employment, the board fails to vote on the issue of granting career status:
a.	It shall not reemploy the teacher for a  second consecutive year;
b.	As of June 16, the teacher shall be entitled to one month's pay as compensation for the board's failure to vote upon the issue of granting career status; and
c.	The teacher shall be entitled to one additional month's pay for every 30 days beyond June 16 that the board fails to vote upon the issue of granting career status."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to contracts of employment beginning with the 2004‑2005 school year.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 25th day of June, 2003.

	s/	 Marc Basnight
	 President Pro Tempore of the Senate

	s/	 James B. Black
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved 4:49 p.m. this 4th day of July, 2003