GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2009

H                                                                                                                                                    1

HOUSE BILL 316

 

 

Short Title:        Assignment of Twins to Charter Schools.

(Public)

Sponsors:

Representatives Jeffus;  Harrison, Howard, Hurley, and Lucas.

Referred to:

Education, if favorable, Judiciary III.

February 26, 2009

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT AUTHORIZING CHARTER SCHOOLS TO GIVE PRIORITY FOR ADMISSION TO the twin of any student assigned to a charter school.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑238.29F(g)(5) reads as rewritten:

"(5)      A charter school shall not discriminate against any student on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, gender, or disability. Except as otherwise provided by law or the mission of the school as set out in the charter, the school shall not limit admission to students on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability, disability, race, creed, gender, national origin, religion, or ancestry. The charter school may give enrollment priority to siblings of currently enrolled students who were admitted to the charter school in a previous year year, to the twin or other multiples of a student admitted to the school for the upcoming year, and to children of the school's principal, teachers, and teacher assistants. In addition, and only for its first year of operation, the charter school may give enrollment priority to children of the initial members of the charter school's board of directors, so long as (i) these children are limited to no more than ten percent (10%) of the school's total enrollment or to 20 students, whichever is less, and (ii) the charter school is not a former public or private school. Within one year after the charter school begins operation, the population of the school shall reasonably reflect the racial and ethnic composition of the general population residing within the local school administrative unit in which the school is located or the racial and ethnic composition of the special population that the school seeks to serve residing within the local school administrative unit in which the school is located. The school shall be subject to any court‑ordered desegregation plan in effect for the local school administrative unit."

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2009‑2010 school year.