GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2011

H                                                                                                                                                    1

HOUSE BILL 695*

Short Title:        Family/School/Community Compacts.		(Public)
Sponsors:	Representatives Bell and Lucas (Primary Sponsors). For a complete list of Sponsors, see Bill Information on the NCGA Web Site.
Referred to:	Education.

April 7, 2011

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to provide for a family-school compact for every student.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Chapter 115C of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

"§ 115C-105.41A. Family-school compacts.

(a) A family-school compact is a written agreement between teachers and parents that clarifies what families and schools can do to help students reach high academic standards. It is a written commitment indicating how parents, students, teachers, principals, and other school staff members agree to share responsibility for student learning. Each student shall have a family-school compact.

(b) The family-school compact for each child shall include the following:

(1) A description of the school's responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables students to meet State academic achievement standards,

(2) A description of the ways in which each parent will be responsible for supporting the student's learning such as by monitoring attendance, homework completion, and television watching, volunteering in the student's classroom, and participating in decisions relating to the education of the student and  positive use of the student's extracurricular time.

(3) Strategies for addressing the importance of communication between teachers and parents on a continuous basis, including at least annually during parent-teacher conferences in elementary schools, and through frequent reports home to parents on the student's process.

(4) A means to discuss an individual student's achievement.

(5) Reasonable access to staff and opportunities to volunteer and participate in their student's classroom and observe classroom activities.

(c) Parents shall participate in the development and design of their child's family-school compact.

(d) Each family-school compact shall be evaluated regularly by the school for effectiveness."

SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C-12(9)c1. reads as rewritten:

"§ 115C-12.  Powers and duties of the Board generally.

The general supervision and administration of the free public school system shall be vested in the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education shall establish policy for the system of free public schools, subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly. The powers and duties of the State Board of Education are defined as follows:

…

(9)        Miscellaneous Powers and Duties. - All the powers and duties exercised by the State Board of Education shall be in conformity with the Constitution and subject to such laws as may be enacted from time to time by the General Assembly. Among such duties are:

…

c1.       To issue an annual "report card" for the State and for each local school administrative unit, assessing each unit's efforts to improve student performance based on the growth in performance of the students in each school and taking into account progress over the previous years' level of performance and the State's performance in comparison with other states. This assessment shall take into account factors that have been shown to affect student performance and that the State Board considers relevant to assess the State's efforts to improve student performance. The report card for a local school administrative unit shall also note the degree to which it complied with the provisions of G.S. 115C-105.41A, regarding family-school compacts."

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.