A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to streamline reporting requirements for Public schools.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

PART I. CLASS‑SIZE FLEXIBILITY
SECTION 1.(a)  G.S. 115C‑301 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑301.  Allocation of teachers; class size.
(a)	Request for Funds. – The State Board of Education, based upon the reports of local boards of education and such other information as the State Board may require from local boards, shall determine for each local school administrative unit the number of teachers and other instructional personnel to be included in the State budget request.
(b)	Allocation of Positions. – The State Board of Education is authorized to adopt rules to allot instructional personnel and teachers, within funds appropriated.
(c)	Class Size. – Local school administrative units shall have the maximum flexibility to use allotted teacher positions to maximize student achievement.		(f)	Second Month Reports. – At the end of the second month of each school year, each local board of education, through the superintendent, shall file a report for each school within the school unit with the State Board of Education. The report shall be filed in a format prescribed by the State Board of Education and shall include the organization for each school, the duties of each teacher, the size of each class, the teaching load of each teacher, and such other information as the State Board may require. As of February 1 each year, local boards of education, through the superintendent, shall report all significant increases in class size that occur at that time.
(g)	Allotment Adjustments. – Local boards of education may request allotment adjustments for significant increases in class size. Within 45 days of receipt of requests, the State Board of Education, within funds available, may allot additional positions if a significant increase in class size resulted from exceptional circumstances, emergencies, acts of God, large changes in student population, organizational problems caused by remote geographic location, or classes organized for a solitary curricular area, and the local board cannot organizationally correct the exception.
		(h)	State Board Rules. – The State Board of Education shall adopt rules necessary for the implementation of this section.
	"
SECTION 1.(b)  G.S. 115C‑47(10) reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑47.  Powers and duties generally.
In addition to the powers and duties designated in G.S. 115C‑36, local boards of education shall have the power or duty:
…
(10)	To Assure Appropriate Class Size. – It shall be the responsibility of local boards of education to assure that the teacher positions allotted by the State are used to maximize student achievement.				
		In addition, each local board of education shall also have the duty to provide an adequate number of classrooms."
SECTION 1.(c)  G.S. 115C‑276(k) reads as rewritten:
"(k)	To Submit Organization Reports and Other Information to the State Board. – Each year the superintendent of each local school administrative unit shall submit to the State Board of Education statistical reports, certified by the chairman of the board of education, showing the organization of the schools in his unit and any additional information the State Board may require. At the end of the second month of school each year, local boards of education, through the superintendent, shall report school organization, employees' duties, class sizes, and teaching loads to the State Board of Education. As of February 1 each year, local boards of education, through the superintendent, shall report all significant increases in class size that occur at that time."

PART II. ELIMINATE ESC REPORTING
SECTION 2.  G.S. 96‑33 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(a1)	Subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to local school administrative units."

PART III. CHARTER TRANSPORTATION FLEXIBILITY
SECTION 3.  The State Board of Education shall revise its policy on the rules and regulations for local school administrative units related to charter transportation for school‑related events and activities to remove the requirements that (i) each local school administrative unit maintain a list of companies or individuals that provide transportation services for school‑related activities that are approved by the State Board of Education and (ii) the local school administrative unit must limit its ability to contract for those services to an approved list of companies or individuals.

PART IV. DISADVANTAGED STUDENT REPORT
SECTION 4.  To the extent allowed by federal law, the State Board of Education shall consolidate and limit reports to the State Board by local school administrative units on data related to economically disadvantaged students, including household size and income information, to one report each school year.

PART V. IIS REPORTING
SECTION 5.  G.S. 115C‑12(18) reads as rewritten:
"(18)	Duty to Develop and Implement a Uniform Education Reporting System, Which Shall Include Standards and Procedures for Collecting Fiscal and Personnel Information. –
a.	The State Board of Education shall adopt standards and procedures for local school administrative units to provide timely, accurate, and complete fiscal and personnel information, including payroll information, on all school personnel.b.	The State Board of Education shall develop and implement a Uniform Education Reporting System that shall include requirements for collecting, processing, and reporting fiscal, personnel, and student data, by means of electronic transfer of data files from local computers to the State Computer Center through the State Communications Network.c.	The State Board of Education shall comply with the provisions of G.S. 116‑11(10a) to plan and implement an exchange of information between the public schools and the institutions of higher education in the State. The State Board of Education shall require local boards of education to provide to the parents of children at a school all information except for confidential information received about that school from institutions of higher education pursuant to G.S. 116‑11(10a) and to make that information available to the general public.
d.	The State Board of Education shall modify the Uniform Education Reporting System to provide clear, accurate, and standard information on the use of funds at the unit and school level. The plan shall provide information that will enable the General Assembly to determine State, local, and federal expenditures for personnel at the unit and school level. The plan also shall allow the tracking of expenditures for textbooks, educational supplies and equipment, capital outlay, at‑risk students, and other purposes.
e.	When practicable, reporting requirements developed by the State Board of Education as part of the Uniform Education Reporting System under this subdivision shall be incorporated into the Instructional Improvement System to minimize duplicative reporting by local school administrative units."

PART VI. COMMISSION TO STUDY EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S SERVICES
SECTION 6.(a)  Establishment. – There is established a Commission to Study the Provision of Exceptional Children's Services in the North Carolina Public Schools (Commission).
SECTION 6.(b) Membership. – The Commission shall be composed of 12 members, as follows:
(1)	Eight members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives as follows:
a.	Four persons who are members of the House of Representatives at the time of appointment.
b.	A representative of the Department of Public Instruction.
c.	A school principal, as recommended by the North Carolina Association of School Administrators.
(2)	Eight members appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate as follows:
a.	Four persons who are members of the Senate at the time of appointment.
b.	A school system superintendent, as recommended by the North Carolina Association of School Administrators.
c.	A local school board member, as recommended by the North Carolina School Boards Association.
The Commission shall have two cochairs, one designated by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and one designated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives from among their appointees. The Commission shall meet upon the call of the cochairs. Vacancies shall be filled by the appointing authority. A quorum of the Commission shall be a majority of the members.
SECTION 6.(c)  Duties. – The Commission shall review all aspects of the exceptional children's services delivered by local school administrative units in North Carolina and oversight of those services by the Department of Public Instruction. The Commission shall recommend ways to limit reporting requirements and compliance measures for local school administrative units and individual schools by identifying areas in which State requirements exceed federal law requirements. In developing these recommendations, the Commission shall examine at least all of the following:
(1)	Forms and paperwork required by the Department of Public Instruction, Division of Exceptional Children (Division), to be submitted by Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams.
(2)	The alignment of requirements imposed on the local school administrative units by the Division's Continuous Improvement Performance Plan (CIPP) with the federal requirements of the State Performance Plan and the Annual Performance Report.
(3)	Student performance assessments and alternative assessments required by the State Board of Education.
(4)	Class size and caseload requirements for children with disabilities.
(5)	Unfunded fiscal impacts of reporting and compliance measures imposed on local school administrative units.
SECTION 6.(d)  Compensation; Administration. – Members of the Commission shall receive subsistence and travel allowances at the rates set forth in G.S. 120‑3.1, 138‑5, or 138‑6, as appropriate. With the prior approval of the Legislative Services Task Force, the Legislative Services Officer shall assign professional and clerical staff to assist in the work of the Commission. With the prior approval of the Legislative Services Commission, the Commission may hold its meetings in the State Legislative Building or the Legislative Office Building. The Commission may also meet at various locations around the State in order to promote greater public participation in its deliberations. The Commission, while in the discharge of its official duties, may exercise all the powers provided under the provisions of G.S. 120‑19 and G.S. 120‑19.1 through G.S. 120‑19.4, including the power to request all officers, agents, agencies, and departments of the State to provide any information, data, or documents within their possession, ascertainable from their records, or otherwise available to them and the power to subpoena witnesses.
SECTION 6.(e)  Report. – The Commission shall report its findings and recommendations to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee no later than March 15, 2014. The Commission shall terminate upon the filing of its final report.

PART VII. ELIMINATE PERSONAL EDUCATION PLANS
SECTION 7.(a)  G.S. 115C‑105.41 is repealed.
SECTION 7.(b)   G.S. 115C‑83.9(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Parents or guardians shall be notified in writing, and in a timely manner, that the student shall be retained, unless he or she is exempt from mandatory retention for good cause, if the student is not demonstrating reading proficiency by the end of third grade. Parents or guardians shall receive this notice when a kindergarten, first, second, or third grade student (i) is demonstrating difficulty with reading development; or (ii) is not reading at grade level."

PART VIII. EFFECTIVE DATE
SECTION 8.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2013‑2014 school year.