A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate additional funds for small school system supplemental funding.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Section 7.7(a) of S.L. 2007‑323 reads as rewritten:
"SECTION 7.7.(a)  Funds for Small School Systems. – Except as provided in subsections (b) and (g) of this section, the State Board of Education shall allocate funds appropriated for small school system supplemental funding (i) to each county school administrative unit with an average daily membership of fewer than 3,175 students and (ii) to each county school administrative unit with an average daily membership from 3,175 to 4,000 students if the county in which the local school administrative unit is located has a county‑adjusted property tax base per student that is below the State‑adjusted property tax base per student and if the total average daily membership of all local school administrative units located within the county is from 3,175 to 4,000 students. The allocation formula shall:
(1)	Round all fractions of positions to the next whole position.
(2)	Provide five and one‑half additional regular classroom teachers in counties in which the average daily membership per square mile is greater than four and seven additional regular classroom teachers in counties in which the average daily membership per square mile is four or fewer.
(3)	Provide additional program enhancement teachers adequate to offer the standard course of study.
(4)	Change the duty‑free period allocation to one teacher assistant per 400 average daily membership.
(5)	Provide a base for the consolidated funds allotment of at least seven hundred eighty‑eight thousand seven hundred eighty‑nine dollars ($788,789), excluding textbooks for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year and a base of at least one million one hundred fifty‑nine thousand one hundred fifty‑nine dollars ($1,159,159) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year.
(6)	Allot vocational education funds for grade 6 as well as for grades 7‑12.
If funds appropriated for each fiscal year for small school system supplemental funding are not adequate to fully fund the program, the State Board of Education shall reduce the amount allocated to each county school administrative unit on a pro rata basis. This formula is solely a basis for distribution of supplemental funding for certain county school administrative units and is not intended to reflect any measure of the adequacy of the educational program or funding for public schools. The formula is also not intended to reflect any commitment by the General Assembly to appropriate any additional supplemental funds for such county school administrative units."
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to provide additional funds for small school system supplemental funding.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2008.