NCSBA M
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2014
V IRTUAL C HARTER S CHOOL E XTERNAL W ORKING G ROUP AND
R ECOMMENDATIONS
The State Board of Education is asking the General Assembly for an extension of a March 21 deadline to submit a report of virtual charter school statutory and policy recommendations, after discussion of a draft report unveiled to members for the first time at their March 5 meeting clearly showed a reluctance to take action on the document in its present form.
The discussion came a week after the SBE’s virtual charter school external working group held its final meeting via webinar to review a first draft of the report, which had been assembled by
SBE staff based upon discussions and presentations from the group’s previous meetings.
Members of the external working group had also assembled on February 21 but lacked enough members in attendance to constitute a quorum. As a result, members who were in attendance on
February 21 engaged in a discussion laying out a general framework of policy considerations.
At the February 26 meeting, working group members shared comments and suggestions for revisions of the draft study report but could not seem to reach a consensus on a number of items.
The next draft of the report was not made publically available until late afternoon the day before it was to be presented to the SBE and was never voted upon by the external working group.
As presented to the SBE, the draft study report recommend establishing up to three statewide virtual charter school pilot programs of four years in length, with recommendations on funding, governance, enrollment limits, attendance monitoring, withdrawal rate limits, board governance, academic performance requirements, grade structure, and other areas. Also contained in the draft report was information on the history of online learning and virtual charters in North Carolina.
However, a number of items in the draft report presented to the SBE did not match up with comments that were made by members of the external working group during its February 26 meeting.
Items presented to the SBE for the first time are customarily discussion-only agenda items to allow for in-depth discussion, adjustments, reflection, and communication with stakeholders before the item is revisited and acted upon at the next meeting. But with the March 21 due date looming, it appeared that the initial intention of staff was to bring the draft study report to the
Board for action on first reading. However, it quickly became evident that members were uncomfortable with taking action on the item. Vice-Chair A.L. “Buddy” Collins raised concerns about some things he felt the report did not address or needed additional examination. “I think the report needs a lot more work before we present it,” he said. “I’m not so sure we’ve had a complete vetting of some of the stakeholders out there,” he continued. Other Board members expressed similar sentiments about so quickly signing off on a report covering such a challenging

and serious issue, though staff continued to warn of the March 21 deadline and that legislators had already granted one extension. At the end of the discussion, Chairman Bill Cobey instructed staff to request an extension of the March 21 deadline. If the request is granted, the SBE will take up the report again at its April strategic planning session. If the request is denied, the SBE will hold a special conference call meeting on March 19 to consider the report. Staff was also instructed to solicit input from stakeholders.
Click here to read the draft study report as presented to the SBE. NCSBA sent a letter to SBE members on March 4 expressing a number of concerns with the draft report. Please click here to read NCSBA’s letter to SBE members.
J OINT L EGISLATIVE E DUCATION O VERSIGHT C OMMITTEE
The Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee met on February 4 and discussed the following pertinent topics:
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Rebecca Troutman, Intergovernmental Relations Director for the NC Association of
County Commissioners, delivered a presentation reviewing the local funding structure of
North Carolina public schools. Please click here to view the presentation powerpoint. o The presentation noted that 58.2% of funding for North Carolina’s K-12 public schools comes from the State, which ranks NC eighth in the nation in terms of reliance on State revenue for public school support. Some legislators highlighted this statistic as evidence that the State is sufficiently funding K-12 public education. o During the question and answer portion, Committee Co-Chair Sen. Jerry Tillman
(R-Randolph) requested that the committee be provided with information on the fund balances of all 115 LEAs.
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A representative from K12, Inc.
, the for-profit education management company that contracts with virtual charter schools in 38 states and is seeking to enter the North
Carolina market, delivered a presentation on the various types of online schools and programs they operate throughout the nation, the different types of students who enroll in these schools, and concerns they believe legislators should keep in mind as they set policies on virtual charter schools. The presentation was identical to the one delivered to the State Board of Education’s Virtual Charter School External Working Group last month. Click here to view the presentation powerpoint.
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Bill Hussey, Director of DPI’s Exceptional Children’s Division, presented an update on draft rules being developed for the three residential school programs. Click here to view the presentation powerpoint.
H
OUSE
S
TUDY
C
OMMITTEE ON
E
DUCATION
I
NNOVATION
The House Study Committee on Education Innovation met on February 19 and discussed the following items:
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A presentation from UNC staff on improving teacher preparation programs. Click here to view the presentation powerpoint.
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A panel discussion with the 2012-13 regional teachers of the year.

The Committee’s next meeting will be in Plymouth, NC.
S UBCOMMITTEE ON THE P ROGRAM E VALUATION R EPORT ON S CHOOL C HOICE
O PTIONS P ROVIDED BY C OLORADO
’
S D OUGLAS C OUNTY S CHOOL D ISTRICT
The Subcommittee on the Program Evaluation Report on School Choice Options Provided by
Colorado’s Douglas County School District met on February 19 and held an open discussion between members and stakeholders. The majority of the time was spent on the issue of interdistrict open enrollment and associated issues.
P URCHASE AND C ONTRACT S TUDY C OMMITTEE
The Purchase and Contract Study Committee met on February 18 and received presentations on the following pertinent topics:
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Norma Houston, UNC School of Government, delivered a presentation on current public construction contracting statutes. Click here to view the presentation powerpoint.
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Dave Simpson, Carolinas AGC, delivered a presentation on prequalification and construction contracting. Click here to view the presentation material.
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David Crawford with AIA North Carolina discussed Design-Build Requests for Quotes.
L EGISLATIVE S TUDY C OMMITTEE ON C OMMON C ORE S TATE S TANDARDS
The Legislative Study Committee on Common Core State Standards met on February 20 and received the following information and presentations:
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Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest delivered remarks expressing his view of the Common
Core standards.
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Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. June Atkinson delivered a presentation providing specific information which had been requested during the committee’s previous meeting. Click here to view the powerpoint that accompanied Dr. Atkinson’s presentation. Click here to view a supplemental document she provided with extensive detail on the development of and transition to the new Standard Course of Study, of which Common Core is a part. Click here and here to see documents she provided referencing the scholarly research and international benchmarks that informed Common
Core’s development. o During the question and answer session, Dr. Atkinson expressed sadness over what she believed was the Common Core issue having been turned into a “political football.” She strongly urged legislators to take a cautious approach in considering this issue, explaining the collaborative steps that were taken in developing the new
Standard Course of Study. “We should not throw away the great work that our teachers and our principals and the Department of Public Instruction, and the business community have done for the sake of what I don’t know,” she said.
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Dr. Terry Stoops, Director of Education Studies at the John Locke Foundation think tank in Raleigh, informed legislators of what some other states have done or attempted to do in

response to Common Core concerns. He followed with a set of recommendations he believes would be the best path moving forward. o Click here to see Dr. Stoops’ powerpoint presentation. Click here to read a research paper from Dr. Stoops with more detail about his ideas.
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The Committee also heard from a panel of administrators and teachers who shared their thoughts on the Common Core Standards, the implementation process in North Carolina, struggles they have dealt with in adjusting to the numerous recent policy changes, and concerns about possibly having to endure additional changes. Rep. Craig Horn (R-Union) summed up the panel’s thoughts. “So if I am understanding what you are saying:
Common Core is not the problem, the implementation is, and you are telling us ‘No more policy whiplash; give us time to make it work.’”
The next meeting will be on March 20 and will be focused mostly on taking public comments.
Click here to read move coverage of the meeting from The News and Observer .
Click here to listen to an audio recording of the full meeting.
E DUCATOR E FFECTIVENESS AND C OMPENSATION T ASK F ORCE
The North Carolina Educator Effectiveness and Compensation Task Force convened for its first meeting on February 25. Established through the 2013 budget bill, this task force is comprised of
18 members- a combination of legislators, educators, and education experts- who are charged with devising recommendations on whether the state should transition to an alternative compensation system and how such an alternative compensation system might be structured.
Read the enabling legislation by clicking here . School boards will be represented on the panel by
Iredell-Statesville school board member Bryan Shoemaker, a Senate appointee. Click here for a full listing of the task force members.
At its first meeting, the task force received presentations on the following topics:
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Background presentations providing an overview of North Carolina’s current educator compensation system and how it compares to surrounding states. You can read those presentations by clicking here and here .
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A report on locally-developed innovative compensation models in Guilford, Pitt, and
Sampson school systems. You can find those presentations by clicking here , here , and here .
The committee then held an open discussion period to pose questions to the presenters and share their thoughts on the issue.
If you want to watch a video of the meeting you can do so by clicking here .
O THER I TEMS
Teacher Pay Plan
A plan to raise beginning teachers’ salaries was unveiled on February 10 by Governor Pat
McCrory, Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, Speaker Thom Tillis, and Senator Phil Berger at a

news conferences in Guilford County. The plan will raise the salaries of teachers in the first 10 years of teaching to $35,000. It is estimated that the plan will affect 32,000 out of 95,000 teachers statewide.
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Click here to see more details of the plan.
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Click here to see a press release issued by NCSBA in response to the pay plan.
Report on Private Schools
The Duke Children’s Law Clinic released a report this month detailing notable characteristics of
NC’s private schools. You can read the report by clicking here .
U PCOMING M EETINGS
March 10 – 11
The NC Charter School Advisory Board will meet to continue the 2015-16 application review process and select applicants for interviews.
March 11
9:30 AM – The Revenue Laws Study Committee will meet.
March 12
1:00 PM – The Legislative Purchase and Contract Study Committee will meet.
March 17
2:00 PM – The Educator Effectiveness and Compensation Task Force will meet.
March 19
12:00 PM – The House Study Committee on Education Innovation will meet in Plymouth, NC.
TBD – The State Board of Education may meet to discuss the virtual charter school study report.
March 20
10:00 AM – The Legislative Study Committee on Common Core State Standards will meet and take public comments.