House committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes. Retains the act’s appropriation provision (now in Part II) and replaces the remainder of the content of the previous edition with the following. Makes conforming changes to the act’s titles.

Part I.

Enacts new GS 116-74.46A allowing the North Carolina Principal Fellows Commission (Commission) to select up to two eligible entities that did not receive Principal Fellows grants to receive a one-year developmental grant of up to $250,000 per recipient, subject to the availability of funds after awarding Principal Fellows grants. Allows developmental grants to be used for any of the permissible uses of the Principal Fellows grant, except for covering the cost of attendance and completion for grant participants in the school leader preparation program. Allows these grants to be renewed up to five times. Requires the recipients of the development grants participate in the Commission’s evaluation activities and submit a report to the Commission for each year in which grants are received. Amend GS 116-74.41B to allow the North Carlina Principal Fellows Trust Fund (Fund) to be used for developmental grants. Expands upon the allowable uses of the $800,000 that may be allocated to the Commission from the Fund to also include programming on research-based school leadership practices to be shared with eligible entities in order to improve principal preparation. Requires that the State Education Assistance Authority allocate any funds that remain in the Fund at the end of the fiscal year that are not obligated or otherwise encumbered for another purpose, to the Commission, when requested by the Commission, for monitoring and evaluation of the Principal Fellows Program (Program), extracurricular enhancement activities for the Program, or for programming on research-based school leadership practices to be shared with eligible entities in order to improve principal preparation. Makes additional conforming changes. Makes conforming changes to the following to account for the new grants: GS 116-74.41 (making the State Education Assistance Authority responsible for awarding the grants), GS 116-74.41A (definitions for Article 5C, North Carolina Principal Fellows Program), GS 116-74.44 (concerning the Commission’s selection of grant recipients), GS 116-74.47 (reporting requirements). Clarifies that the following statutes apply to the Principal Fellows grants: GS 116-74.45, GS 116-74.46 and GS 116-74.48.

Part III.

Enacts new GS 115C-284.2 requiring the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to provide administrative interns with a 10-month stipend during the internship that is the higher of: (1) the beginning salary of an assistant principal, or (2) for a teacher who become an administrative intern, the salary the person would earn as a teacher on the teacher salary schedule. Defines an administrative intern as a participant enrolled full-time in an approved administrator preparation program who is completing the required full-time internship. Allows DPI to use fund appropriated to the State Public School Fund for this purpose when funds available for the stipends are insufficient. Requires DPI to report to the specified NCGA committee on the stipends by February 15 annually.

Part IV.

Effective July 1, 2026.