A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds for the spouse‑to‑teacher program and to simplify the requirements of lateral entry programs for military personnel and their spouses.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Community Colleges System Office the sum of fifty thousand one hundred seventy‑eight dollars ($50,178) for the 2006‑2007 fiscal year for the Spouse‑to‑Teacher Program, a lateral entry program for the spouses of military personnel.
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑296 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(c2)	Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (c1) of this section, an individual participating in the Troops‑to‑Teachers Program or the Spouse‑to‑Teacher Program for military personnel and their spouses may be certified as a teacher under the community college lateral entry program regardless of whether the individual:
(1)	Completed a bachelors degree at least five years before undertaking the program of study,
(2)	Holds a lateral entry teaching certificate, or 
(3)	Is employed as a teacher in a local school administrative unit."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2006, and expires July 1, 2011.