A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to establish the Global Connections for north carolina schools project.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the North Carolina Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Center, Inc., the sum of one hundred twenty‑five thousand dollars ($125,000) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year and the sum of one hundred twenty‑five thousand dollars ($125,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to establish the Global Connections for North Carolina Schools Project. These funds shall be matched with fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) each year in non‑State funding.
The purposes of the project are to:
(1)	Expose North Carolina school superintendents to educational practices in other countries that could be successfully incorporated into North Carolina schools;
(2)	Build connections between school systems in North Carolina and school systems in other countries;
(3)	Create a competitive selection process that will annually select as participants between 25 and 30 superintendents who have demonstrated a commitment to build connections between their schools and schools in other countries or who are committed to incorporating other countries' best educational practices into schools in North Carolina; and
(4)	Focus the studies of schools in other countries on the teaching of mathematics and science, the application of technology to learning, different approaches and structures for high school, and teacher preparation.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.