A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to Provide access to education and job readiness skills for individuals incarcerated in state prisons and local jails.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  Section 8.3 of S.L. 2010‑31 reads as rewritten:
"SECTION 8.3.(a)  Funds appropriated for community college courses for prison inmates shall be used only for inmates in State prisons. The first priority for the use of these funds shall be to restore the FTE for basic skills courses to the FY 2008‑2009 level. Funds not needed for this purpose may be used for continuing education and curriculum courses related to job skills training.
"SECTION 8.3.(b)  Courses in federal prisons shall not earn regular budget full‑time equivalents, but may be offered on a self‑supporting basis.
…."
SECTION 1.(b)  G.S. 115D‑5(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	No course of instruction shall be offered by any community college at State expense or partial State expense to any captive or co‑opted group of students, as defined by the State Board of Community Colleges, without prior approval of the State Board of Community Colleges. All course offerings approved for State prison inmates or prisoners in local jails must be tied to clearly identified job skills, transition needs, or both. Approval by the State Board of Community Colleges shall be presumed to constitute approval of both the course and the group served by that institution. The State Board of Community Colleges may delegate to the President the power to make an initial approval, with final approval to be made by the State Board of Community Colleges. A course taught without such approval will not yield any full‑time equivalent students, as defined by the State Board of Community Colleges."
SECTION 1.(c)  Beginning with the 2019‑2020 academic year, community college courses offered in local jails shall earn regular budget full‑time equivalents.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2019.