A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to direct the state board of education TO REQUIRE ONE ARTS EDUCATION CREDIT prior to GRADUATION FROM HIGH SCHOOL.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The State Board of Education shall modify the State graduation requirements to include one required credit in arts education to be completed by each student at any time in grades six through 12.
The State Board of Education shall implement this arts education graduation requirement beginning with students entering the sixth grade in 2022. The State Board shall include an exemption from the arts education graduation requirement for students transferring into a North Carolina public school beginning in the ninth grade or later, if such requirement would prevent a student from graduating with the graduation cohort to which the student was assigned when transferring.
SECTION 2.  The State Board of Education shall do the following:
(1)	Establish procedures and a timeline for a phased‑in implementation of the arts education graduation requirement.
(2)	Establish the minimum criteria to meet the arts education graduation requirement.
(3)	By December 15, 2022, report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on the following:
a.	The statewide implementation of the three interdependent components of comprehensive arts education (arts education, arts integration, and arts exposure).
b.	The graduation requirement set forth in this act.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.