A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to provide for a charter school development program through Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, Inc.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) for the 2015‑2016 fiscal year and the sum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) for the 2016‑2017 fiscal year for use by Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, Inc., (PEFNC) to establish a grant program through its North Carolina Public Charter School Accelerator (NC Accelerator) program to support the development of charter schools in accordance with this section. PEFNC shall use the funds made available to it under this act to provide grant funding to participants for the development of up to four charter schools each fiscal year. State funds shall only be used to operate and administer the program and provide grants to charter school participants for replication and expansion through the NC Accelerator program.
SECTION 1.(b)  The funds appropriated in subsection (a) of this section shall not revert at the end of the each fiscal year but shall remain available for expenditure in accordance with this section.
SECTION 1.(c)  PEFNC shall require that grant recipients applying and participating in the program under subsection (a) of this section meet at least one of the following conditions:
(1)	The charter school meets the requirements for replication pursuant to State Board policy, TCS‑U‑016.
(2)	The charter school is eligible for approval by the State Board for additional enrollment growth of greater than twenty percent (20%) upon a finding by the State Board that the charter school meets the requirements under G.S. 115C‑218.5(e)(1) through (5) and the charter school meets the requirements under G.S. 115C‑218.5(f)(4) for a grade‑level expansion.
SECTION 1.(d)  PEFNC may provide grants of up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) to recipients for the initial planning period.
SECTION 1.(e)  By October 31, 2016, and annually thereafter, PEFNC shall submit to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee a report on the progress of the program, an accounting of expenditures, and the status of grant recipients.
SECTION 2.  Section 2.5(b) of S.L. 2014‑101 reads as rewritten:
"SECTION 2.5.(b)  G.S. 115C‑238.29D(f)(4), as enacted by this section, expires September 1, 2016."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2015.