A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to make changes to student enrollment criteria for university of North Carolina laboratory schools and to APPROPRIATE additional funds for the operation of LABORATORY schools.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 116‑239.9 reads as rewritten:
"§ 116‑239.9.  Student admissions and assignment.
(a)	A child shall be eligible to attend a laboratory school if the child resides in the local school administrative unit in which a laboratory school is located and meets at least one of the following criteria:
(1)	Is assigned to a low‑performing school, as defined by G.S. 115C‑105.37 at the time of the student's application.
(2)	Did not meet expected growth in the prior school year based on one or more indicators listed in subsection (c1) of this section.
(3)	Is the sibling of a child who is eligible under subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection.
(4)	Is the child of a laboratory school employee.
(b)	No local board of education shall require any student enrolled in the local school administrative unit to attend a laboratory school.
(c)	During each period of enrollment, the laboratory school shall enroll an eligible student under subsection (a) of this section who submits a timely application, up to the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or building, in the order in which applications are received. Once enrolled, students are not required to reapply in subsequent enrollment periods. The laboratory school may give enrollment priority to the sibling of an enrolled student who attended the laboratory school in the prior school year.
(c1)	For the purposes of this Article, any of the following shall serve as indicators that a student did not meet expected student growth in the prior school year: (i) grades, (ii) observations, (iii) diagnostic and formative assessments, (iv) State assessments, or (v) other factors, including reading on grade level.
(c2)	Notwithstanding the requirements of subsection (a) of this section, if a laboratory school has not reached enrollment capacity in a program, class, grade level, or building by June 1 prior to the start of the next school year, the laboratory school may enroll children who reside in the local school administrative unit in which the laboratory school is located but do not meet one of the criteria set forth in subdivisions (1) through (4) of subsection (a) of this section for up to twenty percent (20%) of the total capacity of the program, class, grade level, or building.
(d)	Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a laboratory school may refuse admission to any student who has been expelled or suspended from a public school under G.S. 115C‑390.5 through G.S. 115C‑390.11 until the period of suspension or expulsion has expired.
(e)	Within one year after a laboratory school begins operation, the laboratory school shall make efforts for the population of the school to reasonably reflect the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic composition of the general population residing within the local school administrative unit in which the school is located."
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in additional recurring funds for the 2019‑2020 fiscal year to support the operation of University of North Carolina laboratory schools pursuant to Article 29A of Chapter 116 of the General Statutes.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2019, and applies beginning with the 2019‑2020 school year.