A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to provide for an outdoor learning center pilot program for ten rural title I schools through real school gardens, doing business as out teach.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of seven hundred thousand dollars ($700,000) for the 2019‑2020 fiscal year to be made available as grant‑in‑aid to the nonprofit organization known as REAL School Gardens, doing business as Out Teach (Out Teach), to establish a two‑year pilot program, beginning with the 2019‑2020 school year and ending with the 2020‑2021 school year. The purpose of the pilot program is to transform teaching practices and create outdoor learning laboratories on school campuses, based on the national model developed by Out Teach, in 10 rural elementary schools operating a school‑wide Title I program. Qualifying schools shall be selected at the discretion of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The pilot program shall concentrate on improving student academic performance, teacher effectiveness, student engagement, and improving health and behavioral issues of students. Funds made available to Out Teach under this section may be used for teacher training utilizing Out Teach project‑based, experiential learning curriculum, which is aligned to NC Essential Standards for science, math, and literacy skills and the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model for nutrition education. State funds shall only be used to operate and administer the pilot program.
SECTION 1.(b)  As used in this section, a school‑wide Title I program is a program at a school identified under Part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended.
SECTION 1.(c)  The funds appropriated in subsection (a) of this section shall not revert at the end of the each fiscal year but shall remain available for expenditure until the end of the 2020‑2021 fiscal year.
SECTION 1.(d)  By October 1, 2020, and by October 1, 2021, Out Teach shall submit to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee and the Fiscal Research Division of the General Assembly an annual report on the progress of the pilot program, an accounting of expenditures, and student outcome and teacher effectiveness data related to the operation of the pilot program.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2019.