North Carolina 2025-2026 Regular Session

North Carolina Senate Bill S167 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1	1		GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
2	2		SESSION 2025
3		-	S 1
4		-	SENATE BILL 167
	3	+	S D
	4	+	SENATE BILL DRS35053-NGa-47
	5	+
5	6
6	7
7	8		Short Title: Revise, Study, and Fund LEP Allotment. (Public)
8	9		Sponsors: Senators Meyer, Murdock, and Robinson (Primary Sponsors).
9		-	Referred to: ~~Rules and Operations of the Senate~~
10		-	~~February 26, 2025~~
11		-	~~S167 -v-1~~
	10	+	Referred to:
	11	+
	12	+	DRS35053 -NGa-47
12	13		A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
13	14		AN ACT TO REVISE THE STUDENTS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY 2
14	15		ALLOTMENT, TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO STUDY THE 3
15	16		STUDENTS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY ALLOTMENT, AND TO 4
16	17		APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO THE STUDENTS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH 5
17	18		PROFICIENCY ALLOTMENT. 6
18	19		The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 7
19	20		SECTION 1.(a) For the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium, the State Board of Education 8
20	21		shall develop guidelines for identifying and providing services to students with limited 9
21	22		proficiency in the English language, as follows: 10
22	23		(1) The State Board of Education shall allocate these funds to local school 11
23	24		administrative units and to charter schools under a formula that takes into 12
24	25		account the average percentage of students in the units or the charters over the 13
25	26		past three years who have limited English proficiency. The State Board of 14
26	27		Education shall allocate funds to a unit or a charter school only if (i) average 15
27	28		daily membership of the unit or the charter school includes at least 20 students 16
28	29		with limited English proficiency or (ii) students with limited English 17
29	30		proficiency comprise at least two and one-half percent (2.5%) of the average 18
30	31		daily membership of the unit or charter school. For the portion of the funds 19
31	32		that is allocated on the basis of the number of identified students, the State 20
32	33		Board of Education shall not set a maximum number or percentage of 21
33	34		identified students for whom a unit or charter school may receive funds. 22
34	35		(2) Local school administrative units shall use funds allocated to them to pay for 23
35	36		classroom teachers, teacher assistants, tutors, textbooks, classroom 24
36	37		materials/instructional supplies/equipment, transportation costs, and staff 25
37	38		development of teachers for students with limited English proficiency. 26
38	39		(3) A county in which a local school administrative unit receives funds under this 27
39	40		section shall use the funds to supplement local current expense funds and shall 28
40	41		not supplant local current expense funds. 29
41	42		SECTION 1.(b) The Department of Public Instruction shall prepare a current head 30
42	43		count of the number of students classified with limited English proficiency by December 1 of 31
43	44		each year. Students in the head count shall be assessed at least once every three years to determine 32
44	45		their level of English proficiency. 33
45	46		SECTION 2. The State Board of Education shall study the allotment for students 34
46	47		with limited English proficiency (LEP), as enacted by Section 1 of this act. No later than 35
47		-	December 31, 2025, the State Board of Education shall report the results of its study to the Joint 36 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
48		-	Page 2 Senate Bill 167-First Edition
	48	+	December 31, 2025, the State Board of Education shall report the results of its study to the Joint 36
	49	+	FILED SENATE
	50	+	Feb 25, 2025
	51	+	S.B. 167
	52	+	PRINCIPAL CLERK General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
	53	+	Page 2 DRS35053-NGa-47
49	54		Legislative Education Oversight Committee and the Fiscal Research Division. The report shall 1
50	55		include, at a minimum, the following information: 2
51	56		(1) Whether the current LEP allotment is aligned with resources needed to ensure 3
52	57		that students with limited English proficiency have the opportunity to become 4
53	58		proficient in English. 5
54	59		(2) A recommended funding factor to be included in the LEP allotment to account 6
55	60		for the number of languages spoken by students in local school administrative 7
56	61		units and charter schools. 8
57	62		(3) A recommended plan to foster more bilingual education programs in the State. 9
58	63		(4) Recommended funding models, with associated costs, to eliminate any 10
59	64		achievement gap between students who are proficient in English and students 11
60	65		with limited English proficiency. 12
61	66		(5) An analysis of the effects of eliminating in the LEP allotment any 13
62	67		consideration of (i) the concentration of students with limited English 14
63	68		proficiency and (ii) a minimum eligibility threshold. The analysis should 15
64	69		include whether to eliminate any or all of these components of the LEP 16
65	70		allotment and proposed alternative metrics for allotting these funds. 17
66	71		SECTION 3. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of 18
67	72		Public Instruction the sum of sixteen million two hundred thousand dollars ($16,200,000) in 19
68	73		recurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to increase the students with limited English 20
69	74		proficiency allotment. 21
70	75		SECTION 4. This act becomes effective July 1, 2025. 22