A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to establish the teacher retention task force and to revise the state of the teaching profession report.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

part i. teacher retention task force
SECTION 1.(a)  There is created the Teacher Retention Task Force (Task Force). The Task Force shall be located administratively within the Department of Public Instruction, which shall provide meeting space and administrative staff for the Task Force.
SECTION 1.(b)  The Task Force shall consist of 15 members as follows:
(1)	The North Carolina Teacher of the Year.
(2)	The North Carolina Principal of the Year.
(3)	One person who is a member of the Teacher Advisory Committee established by the Governor pursuant to Executive Order No. 16, dated August 14, 2017, who is appointed by the chair or cochairs of the Teacher Advisory Committee.
(4)	One person who is a member of the DRIVE Task Force established by the Governor pursuant to Executive Order No. 113, dated December 9, 2019, who is appointed by the chair or cochairs of the DRIVE Task Force.
(5)	Eight persons who are superintendents of local school administrative units located in each of the eight education districts established by the State Board of Education, who are appointed by the State Board of Education.
(6)	Three persons with expertise in teacher retention who are deans of education or professors of education, employed by a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina, who are appointed by the President of The University of North Carolina or his or her designee.
SECTION 1.(c)  Appointments to the Task Force shall be made no later than August 1, 2020. Any vacancy shall be filled by the appointing authority.
SECTION 1.(d)  The Task Force shall study the following:
(1)	Methods for improving teacher retention.
(2)	Local school administrative units with the lowest teacher attrition rates, as identified in the State of the Teaching Profession Report.
(3)	Programs, processes, and best practices occurring in the local school administrative units identified in subdivision (2) of this subsection that can be replicated in other local school administrative units. These shall include, at a minimum, teacher recruitment, hiring, and structural policies and practices.
(4)	The most recent Teacher Working Conditions Survey and any other applicable data resources.
(5)	Local school administrative units with the highest teacher recoupment rates, as identified in the most recent State of the Teaching Profession report.
(6)	Any other issue the Task Force deems relevant to its work.
SECTION 1.(e)  The State Board of Education shall appoint two cochairs for the Task Force from among the membership of the Task Force. The Task Force shall meet upon the call of its cochairs. A quorum of the Task Force is a majority of its members. No action may be taken except by a majority vote at a meeting at which a quorum is present.
SECTION 1.(f)  The Task Force, while in the discharge of its official duties, has the power to request all officers, 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. Members of the Task Force may receive per diem, subsistence, and travel allowance as provided in G.S. 120‑3.1, 138‑5, or 138‑6, as appropriate.
SECTION 1.(g)  Meetings of the Task Force shall begin no later than September 1, 2020. The Task Force shall submit a final report on the results of its study, including its proposed plan and any proposed legislation, to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on or before September 1, 2021, by filing a copy of the report with the Office of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, and the Legislative Library. The Task Force shall terminate on September 1, 2021, or upon the filing of its final report, whichever comes first.

part ii. revise state of the teaching profession report
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑299.5(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	Teachers Leaving the Profession. – The report shall include the following data on the decisions of teachers to leave the teaching profession in the prior school year:
(1)	The number of teachers who left the profession without remaining in the field of education, the reasons for teachers leaving the profession, including data from the Teacher Working Conditions Survey, and recommendations for improving teacher retention.
(2)	The number of teachers who left their employment to teach in other states.
(3)	The number of teachers who left their employment to work in another school in North Carolina, including nonpublic schools and charter schools.
(4)	The number of teachers who left a classroom position for another type of educational position.
(5)	The number of teachers who left employment in hard‑to‑staff schools.
(6)	The number of teachers who left employment in hard‑to‑staff subject areas."

part iii. appropriation
SECTION 3.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year to support the work of the Task Force pursuant to this act.
SECTION 3.(b)  State Budget Act Applies. – The provisions of the State Budget Act, Chapter 143C of the General Statutes, are reenacted and shall remain in full force and effect and are incorporated in this act by reference.
SECTION 3.(c)  Additional Limitations and Directions. – Except where expressly repealed or amended by this act, the provisions of any other legislation enacted during the 2019 Regular Session of the General Assembly expressly appropriating funds to an agency, a department, or an institution covered under this act, shall remain in effect.
SECTION 3.(d)  Applicability of House Bill 966, 2019 Regular Session. – If House Bill 966, 2019 Regular Session, becomes law, and any provision of that act or a provision of the Committee Report described in Section 42.2 of that act conflicts with this act, this act shall control.
SECTION 3.(e)  This section becomes effective July 1, 2020.

part iv. effective date
SECTION 4.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.