A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to APPROPRIATE funds to support implementation of an adapted sports program for students with disabilities in local school administrative units.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of one million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) for the 2019‑2020 fiscal year to provide a grant‑in‑aid to Bridge II Sports, a nonprofit corporation, to implement their integrated community‑based adapted sports program, EveryBODYPlaysNC, for North Carolina students with disabilities in grades kindergarten through 12. The program shall be consistent with the "Dear Colleague" letter addressing equal access to extracurricular athletics for students with disabilities released by the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, on January 25, 2013. The program shall also include specific strategies to overcome barriers to the participation of students with disabilities in extracurricular athletics and incorporate a philosophy of personal empowerment for those students. The program shall be conducted in local school administrative units and provide for collaboration with universities and community colleges and other community organizations to achieve the purposes of the program.
SECTION 2.  Bridge II Sports, in consultation with the Department of Public Instruction, shall report by April 15, 2020, to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, on the implementation of the adapted sports program provided in accordance with Section 1 of this act. The report shall include any data on student outcomes related to the implementation of the program and the expenditure of State funds made available pursuant to this act.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2019.