A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to ESTABLISH a comprehensive state education data warehouse.
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 twelve million dollars ($12,000,000) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year and the sum of twelve million dollars ($12,000,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to establish a comprehensive State Education Data Warehouse. The purposes of the data warehouse are to:
(1)	Provide stakeholders in public education, including administrators, educators, parents, students, State leadership, and professional organizations, with timely, efficient, consistent responses to inquiries about the State's public education system from prekindergarten through the postsecondary level;
(2)	Enhance the capabilities for policymakers to make informed decisions about the State's education system; and
(3)	Provide longitudinal information about the State's education system to managers, program staff, citizens, and others who wish to investigate various educational phenomena.
SECTION 1.(b)  The database shall be a comprehensive collection of information on all students in the State, for all levels of education. It shall:
(1)	Contain information on student demographics, academic information, and financial aid;
(2)	Track students' high school class, their college destinations after graduation, any need for remediation, and later performance;
(3)	Track and provide information on the performance of institutions, programs, classes, and instructors based on how well their students subsequently perform;
(4)	Allow for an analysis of students across systems, including articulation between schools and students' progression; and
(5)	Ensure confidentiality.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.