A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO FUND national board for professional teaching standards certification for up to one thousand teachers over the 2019‑2021 fiscal biennium.
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 nine hundred eighty‑seven thousand five hundred dollars ($987,500) in nonrecurring funds for each year of the 2019‑2021 fiscal biennium to provide grants to a total of up to 1,000 teachers to cover the full application fee for National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification, as follows:
(1)	The Department shall distribute the grants in each year of the 2019‑2021 fiscal biennium to teachers who meet the minimum requirements to receive State financial assistance for the NBPTS participation fee under G.S. 115C‑296.2.
(2)	Grants shall be provided on a first‑come, first‑served basis, according to a procedure developed by the Department, beginning no later than September 1 of each year of the 2019‑2021 fiscal biennium.
(3)	Teachers receiving grants shall also receive up to three days of approved paid leave in accordance with G.S. 115C‑296.2.
(4)	A teacher who receives a grant shall have no obligation to repay the grant to the State even in the event that the teacher does not receive NBPTS certification.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2019.