A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A PERMANENT CHARTER SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION GRANT PROGRAM.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Article 14A of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes is amended by inserting a new section to read:
"§ 115C‑218.41.  Charter school transportation grant program.
(a)	Purpose; Definition. – There is established the Charter School Transportation Grant Program (Program). The purpose of the Program shall be to award grant funds to a charter school meeting the requirements of subsection (b) of this section for the reimbursement of up to sixty‑five percent (65%) of the eligible student transportation costs incurred by the school in accordance with the provisions of this section. For purposes of this section, the term "eligible student transportation costs" means costs incurred by the charter school for (i) transportation fuel, (ii) vehicle maintenance, (iii) contracted transportation services, and (iv) transportation personnel salaries.
(b)	Program Eligibility. – If a charter school has a student enrollment in a semester of the school year of at least fifty percent (50%) of its students either (i) residing in households with an income level not in excess of the amount required for a student to qualify for the federal free or reduced‑price lunch program or (ii) qualifying as "identified students" under the Community Eligibility Provision of the Healthy, Hunger‑Free Kids Act of 2010, the charter school may apply to the Department for grant funds under the Program for reimbursement of up to sixty‑five percent (65%) of the eligible student transportation costs incurred by the school for that semester.
(c)	Applications. – By August 1 of the fall semester, the Department shall establish the criteria and guidelines for the grant application process for the upcoming school year, including any documentation required to be submitted with the application. Each school year, the Department shall accept applications until December 31 for eligible student transportation costs incurred during the fall semester of the school year and until May 15 for eligible student transportation costs incurred during the spring semester of the school year.
(d)	Award of Funds. – From funds made available for the Program, the Department shall award grant funds to the selected charter schools by February 15 for eligible student transportation costs incurred during the fall semester of the same school year and by June 15 for eligible student transportation costs incurred during the spring semester of the prior school year. The total amount of each grant awarded under the Program shall not exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000).
(e)	Reporting. – The Department shall provide a report by March 15 of each year in which funds are awarded to the Fiscal Research Division, the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee, and the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on the administration of the Program, including (i) the number of charter schools that received grant funds, (ii) the amount of grant funds awarded to those charter schools, (iii) whether implementing the Program has led to an increase in charter schools offering lunch, (iv) whether implementing the Program has led to an increase in student lunch participation at charter schools offering lunch, (v) whether implementing the Program has increased or expanded the offering of student transportation by charter schools, and (vi) the modes of student transportation offered by charter schools that received grant funds."
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) in recurring funds for the 2019‑2020 fiscal year to operate the charter school transportation grant program established pursuant to this act.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2019, and applies beginning with the 2019‑2020 school year.