A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT providing for an inventory of infrastructure to support robust digital learning in the public schools, as recommended by the legislative research commission study Committee on DIGITAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Whereas, digital learning is becoming an integral component of a 21st Century education for all students in all schools across North Carolina; and
Whereas, effective digital learning requires a variety of resources, including infrastructure requirements, digital devices, educational software, high‑quality teachers, and perhaps most essentially, reliable Internet connectivity; and
Whereas, while all LEAs currently have Internet access, wireless access on a school building level may be either unavailable or unreliable due to funding or infrastructure limitations; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The State Board of Education shall establish a standard for sufficient classroom wireless connectivity for a digital learning environment and conduct an inventory of the wireless access and bandwidth capacity of each public school in the State based on that standard.
The State Board of Education shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee and to the Joint Legislative Committee on Information Technology by December 1, 2013, on the inventory results, its recommendations on ways to achieve a sufficient standard of wireless access and bandwidth in all classrooms, and the cost of achieving that standard.
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for the 2013‑2014 fiscal year to implement the provisions of this act.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2013.