AN ACT to direct the Education cabinet to set as a priority an increase in the number of postsecondary credentials in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and to support efforts to achieve that priority, as recommended by the Joint Legislative Joining Our Businesses and Schools (JOBS) Study Commission.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Chapter 116C of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 116C‑5.  STEM education priorities.
(a)	The Education Cabinet shall set as a priority an increase in the number of students earning postsecondary credentials in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to reduce the gap between needed credentialed workers and available jobs in those fields by 2015.
(b)	The Education Cabinet shall encourage cooperative efforts between secondary schools and institutions of higher education to prepare students for postsecondary study in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and shall identify and support efforts at institutions of higher education to increase the number of students seeking and successfully completing postsecondary certificates or degrees in those fields. The Education Cabinet shall monitor progress of those efforts.
(c)	The Education Cabinet shall determine measurements for assessing the number of available jobs in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the State, and the number of students earning postsecondary credentials in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at all institutions of higher education in the State, including community colleges and both public and private colleges and universities.
(d)	The Education Cabinet shall identify federal, State, and local funds that may be used to support this priority. In addition, the Education Cabinet is strongly encouraged to pursue private funds that could be used to support this priority.
(e)	The Education Cabinet shall report by November 1, 2011, and annually thereafter, on its activities under this section to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee."
SECTION 2.  The Education Cabinet shall report to the Joint Legislative Joining Our Business and Schools (JOBS) Study Commission by November 1, 2011, on measurements established under this section, efforts to reduce the identified gap, and sources of funding to support these efforts.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 24th day of June, 2010.

	_____________________________________
		 Marc Basnight
	 President Pro Tempore of the Senate

	_____________________________________
		 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	_____________________________________
		 Beverly E. Perdue
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2010