Last Thursday, Governor Roy Cooper signed into law Senate Bill 399: Rehire High-Need Teachers, allowing school districts to rehire certain retired teachers to work at high-need schools while still retaining their retirement benefits. These rehired teachers would be eligible to work full-time on one-year renewable contracts and be paid at either the first step of the teacher’s salary scale, or the sixth step if teaching in approved STEM or special education areas. The law creates two new definitions that school districts must meet in order to utilize the program — “high-need retired teacher” and “high-need school.”
Just ahead of Independence Day celebrations, Governor Roy Cooper signed Senate Bill 219 into law on July 1, making it easier for school districts to recruit and retain more of the licensed teachers they now are trying to place in classrooms for next school year. The bill was shepherded through the General Assembly by its primary sponsor, Sen. Tom McInnis (R-Richmond), and gained almost unanimous support in the N.C. House on June 20 and N.C. Senate on June 24 before moving to the Governor’s desk.
House Bill 362, which would permanently extend the 15-point scale for calculating A-F school performance grades, is on its way to the Governor after clearing both the Senate and House this week. The Senate unanimously approved the measure 49-0 Tuesday, and the House voted 112-4 on Wednesday to accept the Senate’s changes. The bill was then sent to Governor Roy Cooper for further consideration and approval.
Members of the House Education Committee approved several modified Senate bills Wednesday, which replaced the original bills’ contents with House proposals regarding the Innovative School District (ISD), school safety protocols, competency-based assessment models, and teen mental health. Committee members also unanimously approved a bill sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) to improve the NC Read to Achieve Program, as well as a separate bill creating a statutory withdrawal process for regional schools. Further details on the bills heard in Tuesday’s committee are as follows:
