A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACt directing the state board of education to implement the innovation through local schools pilot program.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  The State Board of Education shall establish and implement a four‑year Innovation Through Local Schools Pilot Program. The State Board shall select one or more local school administrative units to participate in the pilot program, beginning with the 2015‑2016 school year. The purpose of the pilot program is to make the participating pilot units more flexible, adaptable, and accountable in order to foster innovation, creativity, and workforce development for a changing economy. To create flexibility and innovation, the units shall move away from a top‑down model of administration of curriculum to a bottom‑up approach that involves local parents, businesses, school boards, and superintendents in tailoring curriculum to meet local economic needs and the needs of students; receive limited direction from the Department of Public Instruction that deals primarily with basic functions and collection of statewide data, thus allowing an environment of new and different ideas across the State; and measure accountability primarily at the local level but administer nationally accepted tests to permit comparisons with other states.
SECTION 1.(b)  Each pilot unit shall develop curriculum implementation plans that include the following:
(1)	An overall mission statement for the local school administrative unit developed by the local board of education in coordination with the superintendent.
(2)	Statements of beliefs, developed by the schools in coordination with the superintendent, that are based on local needs, the student population served by those schools, and the concerns of parents.
(3)	Curriculum in addition to the basic curriculum developed by the State that includes locally developed courses; plans for alternative learning programs or alternative schools; and extended services programs that will expand students' opportunities for educational success through high‑quality, integrated access to instructional programming during nonschool hours.
(4)	The instructional models used in the unit's schools and training and staff development for the unit's personnel that align with the unit's mission and belief statements.
(5)	Formative/summative assessment and evaluation that includes (i) summative assessments for subjects offered in the pilot unit's schools to meet the needs of those schools; (ii) administration of a nationally accepted test adopted by the State Board of Education in accordance with G.S. 115C‑174.11(c) to all students in grades three and five, the Pre‑ACT test in grades eight, 10, and 11, and the ACT test in high school; and (iii) a system for evaluating teachers, principals, and other personnel, designed by the superintendent. Local supplements may be used to create and implement a merit‑based pay system for personnel.
(6)	A resources/capital improvement plan and budget.
(7)	Methods used by the local school administrative unit to communicate with the public, such as press releases, phone trees, public forums, and e‑mails, and plans for (i) improving communication to gain stakeholder support; (ii) encouraging the use of public school facilities by governmental, charitable, or civic organizations for activities within the community; (iii) increasing communications between the staff and faculty of the public schools, other community institutions and agencies, and citizens in the community; (iv) using community‑based academic booster organizations; (v) using volunteers within the community for tutoring, counseling, cultural programs and projects, and other enhancements of public school programs; (vi) making parents and students aware of tutoring and other academic support services that are available to students; and (vii) reporting annually on acts of violence in the schools.
(8)	A statement of local economic impact that includes (i) the economic issues facing the community and methods for identifying those issues; (ii) programs developed to address those issues; and (iii) a process to facilitate integration of these local economic issues into all course work.
(9)	Reflections, which are reviewed annually, on (i) strategies for improving student performance in areas shown by national test data to be deficient and (ii) ideas for future programing.
SECTION 1.(c)  The State Board of Education may waive State laws, rules, and policies to the extent necessary to permit pilot units to achieve the purposes set out in this act and to implement the curriculum implementation plans developed in accordance with act.
SECTION 1.(d)  A local school administrative unit shall be selected as a pilot unit only if the local board of education agrees to delegations of authority necessary to achieve a bottom‑up model of administration and the State Board of Education may waive State laws, rules, and policies to permit such delegations of authority.
SECTION 2.  The pilot units shall report to the Department of Public Instruction on a quarterly basis on the implementation of the pilot program. The Department shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight on the implementation of the pilot program annually by October 15.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.