A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to enact the teacher protection act.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑390 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑390.  School personnel may use reasonable force.
Principals, teachers, substitute teachers, voluntary teachers, teacher assistants, and student teachers in the public schools of this State may use reasonable force in the exercise of lawful authority to restrain or correct pupils and maintain order and proper discipline.
No principal, teacher, substitute teacher, voluntary teacher, teacher assistant, or student teacher shall be held civilly liable unless the trier of fact specifically finds that excessive force was used by the principal, teacher, substitute teacher, voluntary teacher, teacher assistant, or student teacher.
Any plaintiff wishing to file an action against a principal, teacher, substitute teacher, voluntary teacher, teacher assistant, or student teacher must first appeal to the local board of education in which the alleged use of excessive force took place. No action against a principal, teacher, substitute teacher, voluntary teacher, teacher assistant, or student teacher may be filed until the board of education has made a finding whether excessive force was used. 
If the plaintiff files an action against a principal, teacher, substitute teacher, voluntary teacher, teacher assistant, or student teacher after the school board has found that no excessive force was used by the principal, teacher, substitute teacher, voluntary teacher, teacher assistant, or student teacher, that finding by the school board shall create a rebuttable presumption in the action that reasonable force was employed by the principal, teacher, substitute teacher, voluntary teacher, teacher assistant, or student teacher."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2005, and applies to actions filed on or after that date.