by Chantal Brown, EducationNC
April 30, 2025
During a hefty House K-12 Education Committee meeting on Tuesday, lawmakers discussed bills ranging from math reform and school performance grades to publishing the salaries of district central office staff. Not every bill advanced unanimously or without discussion, but 14 education bills did move forward in the House on Tuesday.
Here”s a look at the legislation.
Math reform and school performance grades
“There’s no excuse for our kids, whether they’re in Murphy or Manteo, not to have a high-quality curriculum across the state,” Rep. David Willis, R-Union, said when he introduced House Bill 875. “And when it comes to mathematics, you know, all of our children deserve an opportunity, and our test scores reflect that.”
HB 875 would direct the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to provide a system of “high quality” math instruction and support to public schools, and then report on what those supports are. If the bill were to become law, it would be effective starting the 2025-26 academic year.
Rep. Julie Von Haefen, D-Wake, said that DPI and school districts would need more time for implementation.
Willis pushed back, saying: “I think a lot of times as government agencies and the bureaucracy that we look at, we look at things as being impossible, rather than ‘How do we make this happen?’ I have no doubt that the competence and the quality of folks over at DPI could turn this around for the fall.”
However, Willis added, “But we are willing to give them additional time.”
The bill was referred to the House Rules, Calendar, and Operations Committee.
Rep. Brian Biggs, R-Randolph, introduced House Bill 773, which would reform school performance grades.
Currently, school grades are based on each school’s achievement score, weighted 80%, and on students’ academic growth, weighted 20%. Education leaders say that formula does not capture the full picture of the work happening in our public schools.
Instead of combining separate numerical achievement and growth scores — as proposed by DPI under former state superintendent Catherine Truitt — the bill would still be a single performance score, but it would be based on several different measures, instead of only achievement and growth.
The model the bill proposes was borrowed from Florida, Biggs said. The legislator said that the current system does not take into account the barriers of economically disadvantaged students, ethnic and racial disparities, students with disabilities, English learners, and attendance.
“We need to take those things into account. I think it will give a more accurate picture,” Biggs said.
When Von Haefen asked why he did not use the indicators previously suggested by DPI in the new bill, Biggs said that Republicans were proposing was a “tried and true formula.”
The next stop for the piece of legislation is the House rules committee.
Safety in schools
Rep. Jeffrey McNeely, R-Iredell also introduced House Bill 193, which would allow private schools to designate a qualified person to carry a firearm on private school property. The current law prohibits guns on school property except when possessed by an active or retired law enforcement officer.
When explaining the intent of the bill, McNeely said the designee would identify themselves as a designee, and contact and cooperate with law enforcement during incidents on campus. He said this would be an instance of schools exercising their Second Amendment rights.
Some Democrats disagreed.
“This idea that good guys with guns make people safer has not been proven to be a fact,” Von Haefen said.
According to her, there have been many incidents of mishandled guns in schools over the past 10 years.
Rep. Laura Budd, D-Mecklenburg, said that the designee possessing a gun on school property could lead to them being unintentionally targeted by law enforcement during an active shooter situation.
“So if we want to solve the problem, let’s address the actual problem, which is a fundamental lack of feeling safe in an educational environment,” Budd said. “And that doesn’t mean we put more guns in schools. It means we address the root cause of the problems themselves.”
McNeely and bill cosponsor Rep. Jake Johnson, R-Henderson, said the schools and teachers they spoke with support the bill. McNeely said that in some rural areas, it can take a long time for law enforcement to respond to a situation.
“If there’s a bad situation going on, someone who is qualified is better than nothing or waiting on the response time,” Johnson said.
The bill was advanced to the House rules committee.
Another bill referred to the rules committee, House Bill 832, would allow school safety grant funds to be used to train students and staff on interpersonal skills, violence prevention, and suicide prevention.
Central office staff pay
House Bill 56, titled “Publish Central Office Employment Information,” would require local boards of education to publish the total compensation and position information for central office employees if it were to become law.
Central office employees refers to superintendents, directors, coordinators, supervisors, finance officers, and all other employees or contractors deemed by the school district or DPI to fall in that category.
The bill calls for total funding from all income sources to be published for each central office position. At a minimum, this means districts would have to post salary, reimbursements, and allowances for someone in those position. Districts would also have to include the number of people in each central office department and the number of people that hold each position title.
If the bill becomes law, districts will have to publish the information by August 15.
Rep. Cynthia Ball, D-Wake, said she is concerned about the identity of employees in smaller districts being exposed. She suggested the data be less aggregated to protect the employees.
The bill sponsor, Rep. Erin Paré, R- Wake, responded by saying the information is already publicly available through a public records request.
“This is a taxpayer transparency bill,” she said.
Suicide prevention, school nurses, and more
Here’s a quick look at other bills that were discussed.
- House Bill 578, titled “The Jason Flatts Act,” would require school personnel to receive some kind of suicide prevention education, and for all K-12 schools to implement a mental health plan. The bill also would require all school personnel also be trained on a suicide prevention referral protocol. The trainings have to be at least six hours with additional two-hour trainings and can be delivered in a variety of methods. The statewide requirements for a school mental health policy would be reviewed every five years, and school districts would have to report their policies and trainings to DPI every year. If it becomes law, it would be effective this fall.
- House Bill 772 details different ways schools and community college students can share the phone number for the suicide and crisis lifeline and the NC Peer Warmline with students. The bill includes a variety of ways to share the number, but would require schools and colleges to do so.
- The House’s version of the school calendar bill, House Bill 121, went forward without discussion. Committee members said that there is discussion of putting a working group together to merge their ideas with the Senate’s calendar bill.
- House Bill 971 would launch a career development plan pilot with 12 schools. This would require the schools to develop a career plan with each student in the seventh grade and update that plan annually.
- House Bill 928, an act to allow physical therapists to sign off on treatment documents after a student athlete has a head injury, was referred to the House health committee.
- House Bill 855 was referred to the House finance committee. The bill would require nonpublic schools to request residency licenses of exceptional children (EC) teachers.
- A bill to establish a study committee to research the market pay of public school teachers, House Bill 767, was referred to the House rules committee.
- House Bill 615, an act that would give military families more time to provide their school district with proof of residency, advanced to the House rules committee.
- Finally, a bill was introduced to help address North Carolina’s school nurse shortage. If House Bill 433 were to become law, it would prohibit the State Board of Education from imposing a four-year degree requirement for the position and require that licensed registered nurses with two years of hospital or clinical experience be paid on the certified school nurse pay scale when hired.
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