A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to modify the CRITERIA for selection of teacher mentors.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑296(e) reads as rewritten:
"(e)	The State Board of Education shall develop a mentor program to provide ongoing support for teachers entering the profession. In developing the mentor program, the State Board shall conduct a comprehensive study of the needs of new teachers and how those needs can be met through an orientation and mentor support program. For the purpose of helping local boards to support new teachers, the State Board shall develop and distribute guidelines which address optimum teaching load, extracurricular duties, student assignment, and other working condition considerations. These guidelines shall provide that initially licensed teachers not be assigned extracurricular activities unless they request the assignments in writing and that other noninstructional duties of these teachers be minimized. The State Board shall develop and coordinate a mentor teacher training program. The State Board shall develop criteria for selecting excellent, experienced, and qualified teachers to be participants in the mentor teacher training program, including requiring that mentor teachers have been rated, through formal evaluations, at least at the "proficient" level as part of the North Carolina Teacher Evaluation System and have met expectations for student growth. The principal shall determine which mentor teacher best meet the needs of each new teacher and shall assign the mentor teacher most appropriate to that new teacher, with priority consideration for those mentor teachers rated as "distinguished" and "accomplished." If a principal determines that a mentor teacher rated as "proficient" is the most appropriate mentor teacher for a new teacher, the principal shall maintain records of the reasons for that determination."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to mentors selected for the 2017‑2018 school year.