A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to require school administration to report suspected child abuse allegedly perpetrated by school personnel to the appropriate law enforcement agency, the child's parent, and the local director of social services in accordance with child abuse laws and to allocate funds for that purpose.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑400 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑400.   School personnel to report child abuse.
(a)	Any person who has cause to suspect child abuse or neglect has a duty to report the case of the child to the Director of Social Services of the county, as provided in Article 3 of Chapter 7B of the General Statutes.
(b)	Any person employed by a local school administrative unit who has cause to suspect child abuse allegedly perpetrated by school personnel has a duty to report the case of the child to the appropriate law enforcement agency, the child's parent, and the local director of social services in accordance with Article 3 of Chapter 7B of the General Statutes. Additionally, the report shall be made within 24 hours of learning of the suspected child abuse, and the appropriate law enforcement agency shall initiate a criminal investigation within 48 hours. For purposes of this subsection, the phrase 'abused juvenile' as defined in G.S. 7B‑101(1), shall include any school personnel suspected of child abuse."
SECTION 2.  The Department of Public Instruction and the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Social Services, shall allocate, from funds available, sufficient funds for local school districts to develop procedures and for local law enforcement agencies to conduct investigations as required under Section 1 of this act.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2006.