AN ACT to direct the State board of education to develop a growth model for establishing short‑term annual goals for improving the four‑year cohort graduation rate, to establish a long‑term goal of increasing the statewide four‑year cohort graduation rate, AND TO ALLOW MILITARY DEPENDANTS WHOSE PARENTS ARE DEPLOYED TO ATTEND SCHOOL BEFORE THE AGE OF FIVE IN NORTH CAROLINA IF ELIGIBLE IN THE STATE WHERE THE CHILD'S PARENT IS PERMANENTLY STATIONED.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Prior to the 2010‑2011 school year, the State Board of Education shall:
(1)	Develop a growth model establishing annual goals for continuous and substantial improvement in the four‑year cohort graduation rate by local school administrative units.
(2)	Establish as a short‑term goal that local school administrative units meet the annual growth model goals for improvement in the four‑year cohort graduation rate beginning with the graduating class of 2011 and continuing annually thereafter.
(3)	Establish as long-term minimum goals statewide four-year cohort graduation rates of seventy-four percent (74%) by 2014; eighty percent (80%) by 2016; and ninety percent (90%) by 2018.
(4)	Establish as a long‑term goal with benchmarks and recommendations to reach a statewide four‑year cohort graduation rate of one hundred percent (100%).
The State Board of Education shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by November 15, 2010, and annually thereafter on the goals, benchmarks, and recommendations described in this section.  Such goals, benchmarks, and recommendations shall appropriately differentiate for students with disabilities and other specially identified subcategories within each four-year cohort.  The report shall include goals and benchmarks by local school administrative unit, the strategies and recommendations for achieving the goals and benchmarks, any evidence or data supporting the strategies and recommendations, and the identity of the persons employed by the State Board of Education who are responsible for oversight of local school administrative units in achieving the goals and benchmarks.
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C-364(a) is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(a)	A child who is presented for enrollment at any time during the first 120 days of a school year is entitled to initial entry into the public schools if:
(1)	The child reaches or reached the age of five on or before August 31 of that school year; or
(2)	The child did not reach the age of five on or before August 31 of that school year, but has been attending school during that school year in another state in accordance with the laws or rules of that state before the child moved to and became a resident of North Carolina.
(3)	The child did not reach the age of five  on or before August 31 of that school year, but would be eligible to attend school during that school year in another state in accordance with the laws or rules of that state, if all of the following apply:
a.	The child's parent is a legal resident of North Carolina who is an active member of the uniformed services assigned to a permanent duty station in another state.
b.	The child's parent is the sole legal custodian of the child.
c.	The child's parent is deployed for duty away from the permanent duty station.
d.	The child resides with an adult who is a domiciliary of a local school administrative unit in North Carolina as a result of the parent's deployment away from the permanent duty station."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 7th day of July, 2010.

	s/	 Walter H. Dalton
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Beverly E. Perdue
	 Governor

Approved 3:19 p.m. this 20th day of July, 2010