A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to REVISE THE GEOGRAPHICALLY ISOLATED SCHOOLS FORMULA REGARDING THE ALLOCATION OF TEACHERS FOR CURRITUCK COUNTY; To INCREASE THE TRANSPORTATION EFFICIENCY BUDGET RATING FOR CURRITUCK COUNTY SCHOOLS; AND TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO DEVELOP DRAFT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR AUDITING PUBLIC SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AND MEMBERSHIP DATA.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

part I. REVISE THE GEOGRAPHICALLY ISOLATED SCHOOLS FORMULA REGARDING THE ALLOCATION OF TEACHERS FOR CURRITUCK COUNTY
SECTION 1.(a)  G.S. 115C‑301(g1) reads as rewritten:
"(g1)	Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the State Board of Education shall allot additional classroom teachers to schools when consolidation is not feasible due to the geographic isolation of the school and the school meets at least one of the following criteria for geographic isolation:
(1)	The school contains grades kindergarten through 12 and is located in a local school administrative unit in which the average daily membership is less than 1.5 per square mile.
(2)	The school contains grades kindergarten through 12 and is located in a local school administrative unit for a county containing more than 150,000 acres of national forest owned by the federal government and managed by the United States Forest Service pursuant to G.S. 104‑5.
(3)	The school contains grades kindergarten through five, is located in a local school administrative unit for a county containing all or a portion of at least one national wildlife refuge owned by the federal government and managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service pursuant to G.S. 104‑10, and is only accessible to the majority of the local school administrative unit, while remaining in the local school administrative unit, by ferry.
The State Board shall allot teachers to geographically isolated schools pursuant to this subsection on the basis of one classroom teacher per grade level and shall allot teachers to the remainder of the local school administrative unit in accordance with the formulas for the regular classroom teacher allotment."
SECTION 1.(b)  This section becomes effective July 1, 2019, and applies only to Currituck County Schools.

part ii. INCREASE THE TRANSPORTATION EFFICIENCY BUDGET RATING FOR CURRITUCK COUNTY SCHOOLS
SECTION 2.(a)  For purposes of calculating the transportation efficiency budget rating for a local school administrative unit, the Department of Public Instruction shall include an assumption that the transportation efficiency budget rating is at least 15 percentage points higher than the actual transportation efficiency budget rating calculated by the Department for that local school administrative unit.
SECTION 2.(b)  This section becomes effective July 1, 2019, and applies only to Currituck County Schools.

PART III. REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO DEVELOP DRAFT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR AUDITING PUBLIC SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AND MEMBERSHIP DATA
SECTION 3.(a)  Based on a review of all available data, the State Board of Education, in consultation with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Charter School Advisory Board, shall develop draft policies and procedures for auditing the following information at all public schools, including schools participating in the virtual charter school pilot program established by Section 8.35 of S.L. 2014‑100, as amended by Section 8.13 of S.L. 2016‑94 and Section 7.13 of S.L. 2018‑5:
(1)	Average daily membership at public schools, as reported in the Principal's Monthly Report provided to the Department of Public Instruction by each school.
(2)	Compliance with the minimum instruction requirements of 185 days or 1,025 hours.
(3)	Compliance with compulsory attendance enforcement requirements provided in G.S. 115C‑378.
SECTION 3.(b)  The State Board of Education shall report on these draft policies and procedures, as well as any legislative recommendations, to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by March 15, 2020.

part iV. effective date
SECTION 4.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2019‑2020 school year.