2020-2021 CALENDAR MODIFICATIONS. (NEW)

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View NCGA Bill Details2019-2020 Session
House Bill 1035 (Public) Filed Tuesday, April 28, 2020
AN ACT TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL MODIFICATIONS TO THE 2020-2021 SCHOOL CALENDAR TO ADDRESS EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES DUE TO CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) AND TO EXTEND THE USE OF FUNDS FOR SCHOOL NUTRITION.
Intro. by Horn, Fraley, Clemmons.

Status: Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate (Senate action) (Jun 17 2020)

SOG comments (1):

Long title change

House committee substitute to the 1st edition changed the long title. Original title was AN ACT TO PROVIDE RELIEF TO ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS, POSTSECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS, SCHOOL PERSONNEL, AND EDUCATIONAL ENTITIES OF THE STATE TO ACCOMMODATE EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES DUE TO CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19), AS RECOMMENDED BY THE EDUCATION WORKING GROUP OF THE HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON COVID-19.

Bill History:

H 1035

Bill Summaries:

  • Summary date: Jun 16 2020 - View Summary
    House committee substitute deletes the content of the 1st edition and now provides the following.
     
    Amends SL 2020-3, Section 2.1 to limit the definition of year-round school to schools with calendars adopted prior to March 1, 2020.  Modifies the attendance requirement for one of the permitted plans for a year-round school to include an average of 44 to 46 days (was, fixed at 45) followed by an average of 15 to 20 days of vacation (was, fixed at 15).
     
    Changes 2020-21 school calendar provisions in SL 2020-3, Section 2.11(b)(2)c. to remove the prohibition on remote instruction days before August 24, 2020, for traditional public school, and the prohibition on remote instruction days before the sixth instructional day of a year-round or modified calendar school. Authorizes local school boards to change adopted calendars of single-track, year-round schools to vary from the permitted plan requiring 44 to 46 attendance days followed by 15 to 20 vacation days if necessary to ensure health and safety of students so long as the other existing requirements are met. 
     
    Limits flexibility for local school boards to use remote instruction days as teacher workdays to those five days originally planned as part of 190-day annual calendar. Authorizes further remote instruction days that a governing board determines it needs for health and safety reasons, provided the public school unit ensures compliance with COVID-19 guidance from State health and education agencies. 
     
    Amends SL 2020-4, Section 3.3(6) to limit the $75 million appropriation to Department of Public Instruction to emergency school nutrition services, rather than school nutrition services generally. Adds Summer Food Service program to expand the eligibility criteria and extends eligibility period to December 30, 2020 (was, end of 2019-2020 school year).

  • Summary date: Apr 28 2020 - View Summary

    Parts I and II

    Sets forth defined terms applicable to the act and states the act’s purpose.

    Part III

    Section 3.1

    Waives end-of-grade and end-of-course tests for the 2019-20 school year.

    Requires public school units to administer the norm-referenced college admissions tests made available by the State Board of Education (State Board) during the fall semester of the 2020-21 school year to all 2019-20 eleventh grade students who were not administered the test during the 2019-20 school year, unless a student has already taken a comparable test and scored at or above a level set by the State Board. Defines school closure period to mean the period beginning March 16, 2020, and continuing until the latest of: May 15, 2020, the date specified by an executive order superseding the school closure period in Executive Order No. 120, or the date specified in any executive order superseding the executive order superseding Executive Order No. 120.

    Specifies that no additional diagnostic and formative reading assessments beyond those administered prior to the school closure period, as defined, are required for the 2019-20 school year for kindergarten through third grade students.

    Specifies that local administrative units are not required to administer the WorkKeys tests to any students who complete a concentration in career and technical education courses for the spring semester of the 2019-20 school year.

    Section 3.2

    Makes the provisions of GS 115C-12(9)c1., which sets out the State Board’s duty to issue State report cards for each local school administrative unit, and GS 115C-83.15(a) through (f), which requires the State Board to award school achievement, growth, and performance scores and sets forth calculation factors, inapplicable for the 2020-21 school year based on data from the 2019-20 school year. Requires the State Board to display a brief explanation that report cards for schools were not issued for the 2020-21 school year on the Department of Public Instruction (DPI)’s website, as required under GS 115C-83.15(g). Similarly, requires public school units to display a brief explanation that report cards for schools were not issued for the 2020-21 school year, as required by specified state laws requiring distribution of issued report cards.

    Directs that educational performance and growth of students in alternative schools and alternative programs are not to be evaluated based on data for the 2019-20 school year to the extent those performance and growth measures of students in alternative schools and alternative programs are measured based on the performance accountability system developed under GS 115C-83.15 and GS 115C-105.35.

    Directs that the requirements for local school administrative units to produce and make public a school building report under GS 115C-12(9)c3. and GS 115C-47(35) does not apply for the October 15, 2020, report based on building level data from the 2019-20 school year.

    Section 3.3

    Sets forth parameters regarding low-performing schools, continually low-performing schools, and low-performing local school administrative units for the 2020-21 school year. Prohibits the State Board from identifying additional low-performing schools, continually low-performing schools, and low-performing local school administrative units based on data from the 2019-20 school year and requires those previously identified based on data from the 2018-19 school year to continue to be identified as low-performing or continually low-performing and continue to carry out the final plan approved by the local board of education. Requires the State Board and local board of education to continue to provide access to each low-performing school and low-performing local school administrative unit’s plan. Specifies that local boards of education must include with their online final plans a brief explanation that low-performing identification continues pending assessment data from the 2020-21 school year for both low-performing schools and low-performing local school administrative units, though written parental notice is not required to be provided again. Additionally, suspends the authority of the State Board to appoint an interim superintendent in an identified local school administrative unit under GS 115C-105.39(c) through (e). For continually low-performing schools, requires assistance and intervention levels provided for the 2019-20 school year based on designation as low-performing for two or three years to continue and allows local boards of education to request to reform a continually low-performing school pursuant to GS 115C-105.37B.

    Section 3.4

    Prohibits the State Board from identifying any additional schools as qualifying schools for the Innovative School District (ISD) based on data from the 2019-20 school year for the 2020-21 school year. Additionally, directs that schools identified as qualifying schools for the 2019-20 school year based on data from the 2018-19 school year must remain on the qualifying list, and the provisions of GS 115C-75.7(b1) (concerning support by the State Board and consultants), (b2) (concerning support by local boards), and (d) (concerning public notification of identified schools on the ISD website) remain applicable. Makes conforming changes to SL 2018-248 concerning the identification of an innovative school for the 2021-22 school year.

    Section 3.5

    Sets forth parameters for grade level determination for the 2020-21 school year. Grants principals the authority to determine the appropriate 2020-21 school year grade level for students in the third grade during the 2019-20 school year in the same manner as for students in all other grade levels. Requires principals to designate whether a retained third grade student is retained due to reading deficiencies and encourages principals to consult with a student’s 2019-20 third grade teacher. Additionally, authorizes charter schools to determine the appropriate 2020-21 school year grade level for third grade students in the same manner that grade level classification is determined for other grade levels.

    Requires parental (or guardian) notice that a first, second, or third grade student demonstrated difficulty with reading development or was not reading at grade level during the 2019-20 school year based on assessments completed on or before March 13, 2020. Requires the notice to be consistent with the requirements of GS 115C-83.9(a) and (d), which require the notification to be written and requires teachers and principals to offer opportunities to discuss the notification. Directs that the monthly written reports for parents and guardians on student progress required by GS 115C-83.9(c) do not apply during the school closure period, as defined and beginning March 16, 2020, for third-grade students retained for the 2019-20 school year based on data from the 2018-19 school year. Directs that the successful reading development strategies and requirements of GS 115C-83.8(b) through (e) and GS 115C-83.9 apply for third-grade students retained for the 2020-21 school year due to reading deficiencies in the same manner they would have had the student been retained pursuant to GS 115C-83.7(a), except that the notification regarding the exemptions in GS 115C-83.7(a) do not apply.

    States that local school administrative units are not required to provide reading camps corresponding to the 2019-20 school year. Requires the State Board to submit to the specified NCGA committee recommendations for alternative interventions to summer instruction to be offered to at-risk students and students recommended for additional support by their 2019-20 teachers based on student outcome data available up until March 16, 2020. Specifies that recommendations are limited to alternatives to reading camps and summer school that could have been offered but for the COVID-19 emergency, as defined.

    Requires public school units to administer to all fourth grade students the end-of-year diagnostic assessment otherwise required for third grade students under GS 115C-174.11 and State Board policy no later than the tenth day that school buildings are open to students for the 2020-21 school year. Mandates that the assessment results be used to identify reading deficiencies and inform instruction and remediation needs in order to ensure that all students achieve proficiency at the earliest date possible.

    Sets forth parameters for the 2020-21 school year reporting requirements. Establishes that reading proficiency accountability reporting described in GS 115C-83.10 is not required based on the 2019-20 school year. Instead, requires local boards to report to the State Board specified information by September 1, 2020, including the number and percentage of students on track and not on track to meet year-end expectations based on assessments completed on or after March 13, 2020, at each of the first, second, and third grade levels, and the number and percentage of third grade students retained pursuant to principal authority set forth in the act. Additionally, establishes that reading proficiency reporting requirements established in GS 115C-218.85(b)(4) are not required based on data from the 2019-20 school year. Instead, requires charter schools and other public school units subject to charter school statutory requirements to report specified information to the State Board by September 1, 2020, including the number and percentage of third grade students on track and not on track to meet year-end expectations based on assessments completed on or before March 13, 2020, and the number and percentage of third grade students retained pursuant to charter school authority set forth in the act. Requires the State Board to compile the information required to be reported under these provisions and submit a State-level summary of each component by local school administrative unit and charter school to the specified NCGA committee by October 15, 2020.

    Section 3.6

    Establishes that the provisions of GS 115C-81.36(a1) and (b) concerning advanced math placement for grades three through five and six and higher do not apply for the 2020-21 school year based on the data for the 2019-20 school year. Provides that 2020-21 math placement may be determined based on local board policy in consultation with the student’s 2019-20 school year math teacher. For purposes of reporting on eligibility and placement in advanced math pursuant to GS 115C-81.36(c), requires DPI to submit its December 15, 2020, report to the specified NCGA committee on the number of students who were enrolled in advanced math courses or given other advanced learning opportunities for the 2020-21 school year. Requires the report to include information on the type and format of advanced math courses or advanced learning opportunities provided and include any feedback provided by local boards of education on the implementation of GS 115C-81.36.

    Section 3.7

    Allows for any student in grade 12 who has not satisfied the requirement for completion of CPR instruction to be eligible for graduation if CPR instruction cannot be completed due to the COVID-19 emergency, as defined by the act, and the student is eligible to graduate in all other respects as determined by the student’s principal.

    Section 3.8

    Mandates all public school units to provide remote instruction for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year and provides that a public school unit that provides remote instruction is deemed to have satisfied the instructional time requirements under specified state law for the 2019-20 school year. Defines remote instruction.

    Waives attendance enforcement requirements under GS 115C-378 for the 2019-20 school year during the school closure period, as defined.

    States the legislative intent for at-risk students and students recommended for additional support by their 2019-20 teachers to receive two weeks of supplemental jump start instruction during the month of August 2020, based on State Board recommendations. Clarifies that this supplemental instruction is not intended to be included in scheduled instructional time for the 2020-21 school year.

    Authorizes public school units to schedule their opening date for the 2020-21 school year as early as August 17, 2020, at the discretion of each school’s governing body.

    Part IV

    Section 4.1

    Provides local boards of education budget flexibility for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. Allows local boards to transfer and approve transfers of any unexpended cash balance in an allotment category to another allotment category subject to eight detailed limitations, including barring transfers out of children with disabilities, students with limited English proficiency, and academically or intellectually gifted students categories, and barring transfers into the central office allotment category. Specifically allows for the transfer of the unexpended cash balance in the driver's education allotment category pursuant to these provisions. Sunsets the provisions applicable to the 2019-20 fiscal year on June 30, 2020, and makes the provisions applicable to the 2020-21 fiscal year effective July 1, 2020.

    Section 4.2

    Amends Part II of SL 2018-2, which provides for phasing in smaller class size requirements. Provides for the described average class size requirements for kindergarten through third grade for the 2019-20 school year to also apply to the 2020-21 school year, and delays the remaining reduction requirements by one school year. Makes conforming changes to corresponding teacher allotment changes and the allotted funding for program enhancement teachers.

    Part V

    Section 5.1

    Provides that a school identified as an eligible school in the 2019-20 school year for the principal supplement program under GS 115C-285.1, as enacted by SL 2019-247, continues to be an eligible school in the 2020-21 school year. Makes a technical correction to GS 115C-285.1.

    Section 5.2

    States the legislative intent that for purposes of establishing the 2020-21 Principal Salary Schedule, 2019-20 school growth scores will not be used and where data is used to calculate school growth scores from other school years, data from the 2018-19 school year or earlier will be used.

    Section 5.3

    Directs that principals are not required to notify teachers that Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) data has been updated for the 2020-21 school year to reflect teacher performance from the 2019-20 school year.

    Section 5.4

    Provides that for the 2020-21 school year, local school administrative units are not required to provide teacher effectiveness data from the 2019-20 school year to the State Board, and the State Board is not required to include any disaggregated data on teacher effectiveness from the 2019-20 school year in its December 15, 2020, teaching profession report.

    Amends GS 115C-299.5(d) to add a subsection heading.

    Section 5.5

    Provides that for the 2019-20 school year, annual teacher evaluations required pursuant to GS 115C-333(a) and GS 115C-333.1, concerning teacher evaluation and observation, must be based on observations completed in the 2019-20 school year prior to the closure period, as defined, and other artifacts and evidence from the 2019-20 school year. Waives the observation requirement for the 2019-20 school year for those not completed prior to the school closure period.

    Part VI

    Section 6.1

    Establishes that nonpublic schools are not required to administer nationally recognized tests or standardized equivalent measurements for the 2019-20 school year nor make, maintain, or make available test results received by their students in the 2019-20 school year.

    Section 6.2

    Establishes that nonpublic schools are not required to make, maintain, and render attendance records of children of compulsory school age during the school closure period, nor operate on a regular schedule at least nine months of the 2019-20 school year.

    Part VII

    Section 7.1

    Waives several testing and reporting requirements mandated in GS 115C-562.5 for nonpublic schools that accept eligible students receiving opportunity scholarship grants for the 2019-20 school year, including required administration of nationally standardized tests to eligible students whose tuition and fees are paid in whole or in part with a scholarship grant in grades three and higher, and the reporting of standardized test performance of eligible students if the nonpublic school enrolls more than 25 students whose tuition and fees are paid in whole or in part with a scholarship grant.

    Section 7.2

    Authorizes the State Education Assistance Authority (Authority) to remit an opportunity scholarship grant awarded to a student for the spring semester of the 2019-20 school year that was unexpended and carried forward due to school closure during the COVID-19 emergency to a nonpublic school on or before October 1, 2020.

    Section 7.3

    Extends the annual reporting deadlines of the Authority regarding opportunity scholarships and disability grants to now require the Authority to report to the specified NCGA committees by November 15, 2020, rather than October 1, 2020.

    Part VIII

    Section 8.1

    Sets forth parameters for minimum admission to a recognized Educator Preparation Program (EPP) for the 2020-21 academic year, including waiving certain skills tests, minimum SAT/ACT scores, degree requirements, GPA requirements, and minimum cohort GPA requirements described in GS 115C-269.15.

    Sets forth parameters for students enrolled in a recognized EPP to have the clinical internship requirement deemed completed if four specified conditions are met, including that the student has completed as much time in the clinical internship as practicable prior to March 10, 2020, and that the student would be unable to complete the EPP by August 15, 2020, unless the clinical internship is deemed completed pursuant to the provision.

    With regards to individuals who have their clinical internship deemed completed pursuant to the act’s provisions, prohibits the State Board from requiring EPPs to require the individuals for the 2019-20 academic year to complete a nationally normed and valid pedagogy assessment to determine clinical practice performance, and from requiring the individuals for the 2019-20 academic year to complete the pedagogy assessment as a condition of EPP completion. Requires the individuals to attempt the pedagogy assessment by the end of their first year of licensure and pass the assessment by the end of their third year of licensure.

    Specifies that EPPs are only required to submit information that is practically available in the annual report to the school board under GS 115C-269.35(b) for the 2019-20 school year.

    Prohibits the State Board from considering any data that was not practically available related to the 2019-20 school year when assigning sanctions for an EPP under GS 115C-269.45(c).

    Requires the State Board to create and submit annual report cards for EPPs pursuant to GS 115C-269.50 by December 15, 2020, to the specified NCGA committee, and include in its report aggregated information on the number and overall percentage of students who were admitted to an EPP with the waived minimum GPA requirement and the number and overall percentage of students who had their clinical internships deemed completed under the provisions of the act. Prohibits making the annual report cards available to the public on the State Board’s website for the 2019-20 school year.

    Section 8.2

    Sets forth parameters for school administrator candidates who are enrolled in a school administrator program to have certain requirements of GS 115C-284(c2) deemed completed for the 2019-20 academic year if the candidates meet the approval standards established by the State Board under GS 115C-284. Provides that the internship requirement is deemed to be completed if four conditions are met, including that the candidate has completed as much time in the year-long internship as practicable prior to March 10, 2020, and that the candidate would be unable to complete the program by August 15, 2020, unless the internship is deemed completed pursuant to the provision. Requires the candidates to complete a portfolio for emerging leaders to demonstrate the application of his or her training to actual school needs and training to the extent practicable prior to completion of the preparation program.

    Section 8.3

    Sets forth parameters for a school leader candidate enrolled in a school leader preparation program receiving a grant to have the clinical practice requirement deemed competed for the 2019-20 academic year if the candidate has completed as much time in the clinical practice as practicable prior to March 10, 2020, and the candidate has engaged in school leader duties as practicable while the school is closed during the school closure period. Prohibits the Authority from retrieving grant funds from a recipient for the 2019-20 school year based solely on a recipient’s failure to require school leader candidates to complete a full-time paid clinical practice as specified in GS 116-209.72(a)(2)e. for the 2019-20 academic year.

    Part IX

    Section 9.1

    Requires the State Board to allow education licensure applicants additional time to meet the examination and course requirements under GS 115C-270.15 and GS 115C-270.20, consistent with four specified parameters. Allows an individual who is in the first year of licensure who has not taken the examination required by the State Board to take the examination during the individual’s second year of licensure. Allows an applicant for a continuing professional license (CPL) whose lateral entry license expires June 30, 2020, including a teacher granted an extension pursuant to Section 1.2 of SL 2019-71, as amended, who has not met the examination and coursework requirements established by the State Board as of March 10, 2020, to be provided an extension until June 30, 2021. Allows an applicant for a CPL whose initial professional license (IPL) expires June 30, 2020, who has not met the examination requirement established by the State Board as of March 10, 2020, to be provided an extension until June 30, 2021. Allows an applicant for a CPL who is an elementary education or special education general curriculum teacher with an IPL or a residency license who was granted an extension until June 30, 2020, under SL 2019-71, as amended, who has not met the examination requirement established by the State Board as of March 10, 2020, to be provided an extension until June 30, 2021.

    Additionally, allows any teacher required to have at least eight continuing education credits for continuing licensure by June 30, 2020, until June 30, 2021, to meet the requirements under GS 115C-270.30(b).

    Section 9.2

    Directs the State Board to allow applicants applying for a school administrator licensure who have not met the examination requirements established by the State Board as of March 10, 2020, to be permitted to meet the examination requirement in the first year of licensure, and applicants applying for licensure for a professional position in a public elementary or secondary school who have not met the examination requirements established by the State Board as of March 10, 2020, to be permitted to meet the examination requirements in the first year of licensure.

    Additionally, allows any school administrator who is required to meet continuing education credits in high quality, integrated digital teaching and learning for licensure renewal by June 30, 2020, to have until June 30, 2021, to meet the requirements under GS 115C-284(c3).

    Part X

    Section 10

    Provides that a student who is unable to continue participation in a pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship program due to the COVID-19 emergency may be eligible for a tuition waiver for community college courses in the student’s document study plan related to a job specific occupational or technical skill until December 21, 2020.

    Part XI

    Section 11.1

    Prohibits UNC constituent institutions from accruing or charging interest to any past-due student account between March 13, 2020, and September 15, 2020.

    Section 11.2

    Extends three specified reporting deadlines of the UNC Board of Governors (BOG) to the specified NCGA committee by 60 days, including reporting on teacher education efforts, the supply and demand of school administrators, and the goals for State-operated health professional schools.

    Additionally, extends the deadline by which the BOG must submit its annual report on the UNC-NCCCS 2+2 E-Learning Initiative to the specified NCGA committee and state entities from April 15 to June 15, 2020.

    Extends the deadline by which the UNC System Office must submit its annual report on the UNC-NCCCS Joint Initiative for Teacher Education and Recruitment to the specified NCGA committee and state entities from April 15 to June 15, 2020.

    Part XII

    Section 12

    Waives the time period limitation set forth in GS 143B-1225 for students receiving a scholarship under the Children of Wartime Veterans scholarship program, allowing scholarship students in the spring semester of the 2019-20 academic year to return for an additional semester at the institution in which the student was enrolled if the institution submits documentation of the waiver to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

    Part XIII

    Provides for the act’s effective date.