A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to provide that all teachers have duty‑free instructional planning Time and duty‑free lunch.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑301.1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑301.1.  Duty‑free instructional planning time and duty‑free lunch.
All full‑time assigned classroom teachers shall be provided daily duty‑free instructional planning time during regular student contact hours. The duty‑free instructional planning time shall be provided except in emergency situations where the immediate and temporary suspension of the planning time is the only reasonable means of protecting the safety of the students. The duty‑free lunch shall be provided to the maximum extent that the safety and proper supervision of the students may allow during regular student contact hours. Principals shall not unfairly burden a given teacher by making that teacher give up his or her duty‑free instructional planning time or duty‑free lunch on an ongoing, regular basis without the consent of the teacher."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑105.27(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	School Improvement Plan. – In order to improve student performance, the school improvement team at each school shall develop a school improvement plan that takes into consideration the annual performance goal for that school that is set by the State Board under G.S. 115C‑105.35 and the goals set out in the mission statement for the public schools adopted by the State Board of Education. All school improvement plans shall be, to the greatest extent possible, data‑driven. School improvement teams shall use the Education Value‑Added Assessment System (EVAAS) or a compatible and comparable system approved by the State Board of Education to (i) analyze student data and identify root causes for problems, (ii) determine actions to address them, and (iii) appropriately place students in courses such as Algebra I. School improvement plans shall contain clear, unambiguous targets, explicit indicators and actual measures, and expeditious time frames for meeting the measurement standards.
The strategies for improving student performance:
(1)	Shall include a plan for the use of staff development funds that may be made available to the school by the local board of education to implement the school improvement plan. The plan may provide that a portion of these funds is used for mentor training and for release time and substitute teachers while mentors and teachers mentored are meeting.
(1a)	Repealed by Session Laws 2012‑142, s. 7A.1(c), effective July 2, 2012.
(2)	Shall include a plan to address school safety and discipline concerns.
(3)	May include a decision to use State funds in accordance with G.S. 115C‑105.25.
(4)	Shall include a plan that specifies the effective instructional practices and methods to be used to improve the academic performance of students identified as at risk of academic failure or at risk of dropping out of school.
(5)	May include requests for waivers of State laws, rules, or policies for that school. A request for a waiver shall meet the requirements of G.S. 115C‑105.26.
(6)	Shall include a plan to provide duty‑free lunch for every teacher on a daily basis as required by G.S. 115C‑301.1.
(7)	Shall include a plan to provide duty‑free instructional planning time for every teacher as required under G.S. 115C‑301.1 of at least five hours of planning time per week.
(8)	Shall include a plan to identify and eliminate unnecessary and redundant reporting requirements for teachers and, to the extent practicable, streamline the school's reporting system and procedures, including requiring forms and reports to be in electronic form when possible and incorporating relevant documents into the student accessible components of the Instructional Improvement System."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2015‑2016 school year.