A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds for fELLOWSHIPS to recruit NATIONAL board CERTIFIED TEACHERS to teach at high-needs schools.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year for the National Board Certified Teacher Fellows Pilot Program.  The purpose of the program is to provide fellowships to recruit National Board Certified Teachers to teach at high‑needs schools.  For the pilot program, the State Board shall designate as high-needs schools those schools at which (i) a high percentage of students are performing at Level 1 or Level 2 on end‑of‑grade or end‑of‑course tests, (ii) the teacher turnover rate is very high, or (iii) there is a high percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced‑price lunches. It is the intent of the General Assembly to fund this program at the same level for the 2009‑2010 and 2010‑2011 fiscal years.
Beginning with the 2008‑2009 school year, a National Board Certified Teacher who agrees to teach for at least three years at a high-needs school at which no National Board Certified Teachers currently teach and to provide support to National Board candidates at that school shall receive a salary supplement of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) a year for each year he or she teaches at that high-needs school.
During the 2007‑2008 school year the Department of Public Instruction shall provide a list of the high-needs schools designated by the State Board and information about the fellowships to local superintendents, principals, National Board Certified Teachers, and teacher organizations and shall recruit National Board Certified Teachers to participate in the program.
The State Board of Education shall develop policies necessary to implement the National Board Certified Teacher Fellows Pilot Program, including policies related to the three‑year commitment required of the Fellows.
SECTION 1.(b)  In accordance with G.S. 115C‑325 and by way of clarification, it shall not constitute a demotion as that term is defined in G.S. 115C‑325(a)(4) if:
(1)	A teacher who receives a salary supplement pursuant to subsection (a) of this section is reassigned to a school at which there is no such salary supplement;
(2)	A teacher who receives a salary supplement pursuant to subsection (a) of this section moves to a different local school administrative unit; or
(3)	A teacher receives a salary supplement pursuant to subsection (a) of this section and the salary supplement is subsequently discontinued or reduced.
SECTION 2.  If a teacher employed by a local school administrative unit makes a written request for a leave of absence to participate in the National Board Certified Teacher Fellows Pilot Program, the local school administrative unit shall grant the leave for three years. For the initial year of the teacher's participation in the program, the local school administrative unit may require that the request for a leave of absence be made up to 45 days before the teacher would otherwise have to report for duty. After the initial year of the teacher's participation in the program, the local school administrative unit may require that the request for a leave of absence be made up to 90 days before the teacher would otherwise have to report for duty. A teacher who has career status under G.S. 115C‑325 prior to receiving a leave of absence to participate in the program may return to a public school in the local school administrative unit with career status at the end of the leave of absence or upon the end of participation in the program if an appropriate position is available. If an appropriate position is unavailable, the teacher's name shall be placed on a list of available teachers, and that teacher shall have priority on all positions for which that teacher is qualified in accordance with G.S. 115C‑325(e)(2).
SECTION 3.  The State Board shall report on its implementation of and marketing plan for the pilot program to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by December 15, 2007, and December 15, 2008. The report shall include the impact the National Board Certified Teacher Fellows have had on the schools' working conditions and on staff collaboration at the schools.
SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.