A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to permit nationally certified teachers who become principals or assistant principals to retain the NBPTS salary incentive and to appropriate funds for this purpose.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑296.2(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	State Policy. – It is the goal of the State to provide opportunities and incentives for good teachers to become excellent teachers and to retain them in the teaching profession; to attain this goal, the State shall support the efforts of teachers to achieve national certification by providing approved paid leave time for teachers participating in the process, paying the participation fee, and paying a significant salary differential to teachers who attain national certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS).
It is further the goal of the State to provide teachers who attain national certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards with the opportunity to further advance their careers by becoming principals or assistant principals and to use the expertise and abilities they gained as teachers in these new school leadership roles; to attain this goal, the State shall pay the salary differential to teachers with NBPTS certification who become principals or assistant principals.
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was established in 1987 as an independent, nonprofit organization to establish high standards for teachers' knowledge and performance and for development and operation of a national voluntary system to assess and certify teachers who meet those standards. Participation in the program gives teachers the time and the opportunity to analyze in a systematic way their professional development as teachers, successful teaching strategies, and the substantive areas in which they teach. Participation also gives teachers an opportunity to demonstrate superior ability and to be compensated as superior teachers. To receive NBPTS certification, a teacher must successfully (i) complete a process of developing a portfolio of student work and videotapes of teaching and learning activities and (ii) participate in NBPTS assessment center simulation exercises, including performance‑based activities and a content knowledge examination."
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of one million seven hundred thousand dollars ($1,700,000) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year and the sum of one million seven hundred thousand dollars ($1,700,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to implement the provisions of this act.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.