A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to hire a consultant to study the role that regional education service centers that are created within the department of public instruction could play in the delivery of professional development throughout the state, as recommended by the joint legislative education oversight committee.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee shall contract with a credible independent source, individual, or organization to study the roles that regional education service centers created within the Department of Public Instruction could play in the delivery of professional development throughout the State.  The contractor shall not be an employee or independent contractor of any organization that delivers professional development to teachers in North Carolina.
SECTION 2.  The study by the contractor shall:
(1)	Examine regional education service center models in other states;
(2)	Provide qualitative and quantitative data on the effectiveness of the models in other states; 
(3)	Include input from consultants at the Department of Public Instruction and teachers and administrators from at least 15 local school administrative units that are of different sizes and from different geographic regions of the State; and 
(4)	Take no more than four months from initiation to completion.
SECTION 3.  The contractor's report shall:
(1)	Adequately reflect the study's methodology, sources of information, purpose and scope, analyses, evaluative assessments, recommendations, and conclusions;
(2)	State any known deficiencies or limitations of the study;
(3)	Be presented in both a printed form and an electronic version; and
(4)	Provide recommendations on the roles that regional education service centers created within the Department of Public Instruction could play in the delivery of professional development throughout the State.
SECTION 4.  The contractor shall submit a written progress report every four weeks to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee.  The contractor shall complete the report within four months. At the completion of the study, the contractor shall submit a draft of the report document to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee for review.  Within 30 days of completing the study, the contractor shall submit a final report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee. The Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee may, in its discretion, schedule a formal presentation of the report when it is submitted.
SECTION 5.  There is appropriated one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) from the General Fund to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee to carry out this study.
SECTION 6.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2008.