SUBCHAPTER VII. FISCAL AFFAIRS.

Article 30.

Financial Powers of the State Board of Education.

§ 115C‑408.  Funds under control of the State Board of Education.

(a) It is the policy of the State of North Carolina to create a public school system that graduates good citizens with the skills demanded in the marketplace, and the skills necessary to cope with contemporary society, using State, local and other funds in the most cost‑effective manner. The Board shall have general supervision and administration of the educational funds provided by the State and federal governments, except those mentioned in Section 7 of Article IX of the State Constitution, and also excepting such local funds as may be provided by a county, city, or district. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall administer any available educational funds through the Department of Public Instruction in accordance with all needed rules and regulations adopted by the State Board of Education.

(b) To insure a quality education for every child in North Carolina, and to assure that the necessary resources are provided, it is the policy of the State of North Carolina to provide from State revenue sources the instructional expenses for current operations of the public school system as defined in the standard course of study.

It is the policy of the State of North Carolina that the facilities requirements for a public education system will be met by county governments.

It is the intent of the 1983 General Assembly to further clarify and delineate the specific financial responsibilities for the public schools to be borne by State and local governments. (1955, c. 1372, art. 2, s. 2; 1957, c. 541, s. 11; 1961, c. 969; 1963, c. 448, ss. 24, 27; c. 688, ss. 1, 2; c. 1223, s. 1; 1965, c. 1185, s. 2; 1967, c. 643, s. 1; 1969, c. 517, s. 1; 1971, c. 704, s. 4; c. 745; 1973, c. 476, s. 138; c. 675; 1975, c. 699, s. 2; c. 975; 1979, c. 300, s. 1; c. 935; 1981, c. 423, s. 1; 1983 (Reg. Sess., 1984), c. 1103, s. 12; 2016‑126, 4th Ex. Sess., s. 5.)

 

§ 115C‑409.  Power to accept federal funds and aid.

(a) The Board is authorized to accept, receive, use or reallocate to local school administrative units any federal funds, or aids, that may be appropriated now or hereafter by the federal government for the encouragement and improvement of any phase of the free public school program which, in the judgment of the Board, will be beneficial to the operation of the schools. However, the Board is not authorized to accept any such funds upon any condition that the public schools of this State shall be operated contrary to any provisions of the Constitution or statutes of this State.

(b) The State Board of Education or any other State agency designated by the Governor shall have the power and authority to provide library resources, textbooks, and other instructional materials purchased from federal funds appropriated for the funding of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Public Law 89‑10,  89th Congress, HR 2362, effective April 11, 1965) or other acts of Congress for the use of children and teachers in private elementary and secondary schools in the State as required by acts of Congress and rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. (1955, c. 1372, art. 2, s. 2; 1957, c. 541, s. 11; 1961, c. 969; 1963, c. 448, ss. 24, 27; c. 688, ss. 1, 2; c. 1223, s. 1; 1965, c. 1185, s. 2; 1967, c. 643, s. 1; 1969, c. 517, s. 1; 1971, c. 704, s. 4; c. 745; 1973, c. 476, s. 138; c. 675; 1975, c. 699, s. 2; c. 975; 1979, c. 300, s. 1; c. 935; 1981, c. 423, s. 1.)

 

§ 115C‑410.  Power to accept gifts and grants.

The Board is authorized to adopt all needed rules and regulations related to the creation and administration of special funds within the Department of Public Instruction to manage any funds received as grants from nongovernmental sources in support of public education. In accordance with the State Board's rules and regulations, the Superintendent of Public Instruction is authorized to create and administer such special funds and to accept, receive, use, or reallocate to local school administrative units any gifts, donations, grants, devises, or other forms of voluntary contributions. (1955, c. 1372, art. 2, s. 2; 1957, c. 541, s. 11; 1961, c. 969; 1963, c. 448, ss. 24, 27; c. 688, ss. 1, 2; c. 1223, s. 1; 1965, c. 1185, s. 2; 1967, c. 643, s. 1; 1969, c. 517, s. 1; 1971, c. 704, s. 4; c. 745; 1973, c. 476, s. 138; c. 675; 1975, c. 699, s. 2; c. 975; 1979, c. 300, s. 1; c. 935; 1981, c. 423, s. 1; 2011‑284, s. 76; 2016‑126, 4th Ex. Sess., s. 6.)

 

§ 115C‑411.  Authority to invest school funds.

The Board is authorized to direct the State Treasurer to invest in interest‑bearing securities any funds which may come into its possession, and which it deems expedient to invest, as other funds of the State are now or may be hereafter invested. (1955, c. 1372, art. 2, s. 2; 1957, c. 541, s. 11; 1961, c. 969; 1963, c. 448, ss. 24, 27; c. 688, ss. 1, 2; c. 1223, s. 1; 1965, c. 1185, s. 2; 1967, c. 643, s. 1; 1969, c. 517, s. 1; 1971, c. 704, s. 4; c. 745; 1973, c. 476, s. 138; c. 675; 1975, c. 699, s. 2; c. 975; 1979, c. 300, s. 1; c. 935; 1981, c. 423, s. 1.)

 

§ 115C‑412.  Power to purchase at mortgage sales.

The State Board of Education is authorized to purchase at public sale any land upon which it has a mortgage or deed of trust securing the purchase price, or any part thereof, and when any land so sold and purchased by the said Board of Education is a part of a drainage district theretofore constituted, upon which said land assessments have been levied for the maintenance thereof, such assessments shall be paid by the said State Board of Education, as if said land had been purchased or owned by an individual. (1955, c. 1372, art. 2, s. 2; 1957, c. 541, s. 11; 1961, c. 969; 1963, c. 448, ss. 24, 27; c. 688, ss. 1, 2; c. 1223, s. 1; 1965, c. 1185, s. 2; 1967, c. 643, s. 1; 1969, c. 517, s. 1; 1971, c. 704, s. 4; c. 745; 1973, c. 476, s. 138; c. 675; 1975, c. 699, s. 2; c. 975; 1979, c. 300, s. 1; c. 935; 1981, c. 423, s. 1.)

 

§ 115C‑413.  Power to adjust debts.

The State Board of Education is hereby authorized and empowered to settle, compromise or otherwise adjust any indebtedness due it upon the purchase price of any land or property sold by it, or to cancel and surrender the notes, mortgages, trust deeds, or other evidence of indebtedness without payment, when, in the discretion of said Board, it appears that it is proper to do so. The Board of Education is further authorized and empowered to sell or otherwise dispose of any such notes, mortgages, trust deeds, or other evidence of indebtedness. (1955, c. 1372, art. 2, s. 2; 1957, c. 541, s. 11; 1961, c. 969; 1963, c. 448, ss. 24, 27; c. 688, ss. 1, 2; c. 1223, s. 1; 1965, c. 1185, s. 2; 1967, c. 643, s. 1; 1969, c. 517, s. 1; 1971, c. 704, s. 4; c. 745; 1973, c. 476, s. 138; c. 675; 1975, c. 699, s. 2; c. 975; 1979, c. 300, s. 1; c. 935; 1981, c. 423, s. 1.)

 

§ 115C‑414.  State Board as successor to powers of abolished commissions and boards.

The Board shall succeed to all the powers and trusts of the president and directors of the Literary Fund of North Carolina; and to all the powers, functions, duties, and property of all abolished commissions and boards including the State School Commission, the State Textbook Commission, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the State Board of Commercial Education, including the power to take, hold and convey property, both real and personal, to the same extent that any corporation might take, hold and convey the same under the laws of this State. (1955, c. 1372, art. 2, s. 2; 1957, c. 541, s. 11; 1961, c. 969; 1963, c. 448, ss. 24, 27; c. 688, ss. 1, 2; c. 1223, s. 1; 1965, c. 1185, s. 2; 1967, c. 643, s. 1; 1969, c. 517, s. 1; 1971, c. 704, s. 4; c. 745; 1973, c. 476, s. 138; c. 675; 1975, c. 699, s. 2; c. 975; 1979, c. 300, s. 1; c. 935; 1981, c. 423, s. 1; 1997‑443, s. 11A.122.)

 

§ 115C‑415:  Repealed by Session Laws 1997‑18, s. 15(l).

 

§ 115C‑416.  Power to allot funds for teachers and other personnel.

The Board shall have power to provide for the enrichment and strengthening of educational opportunities for the children of the State, and when sufficient State funds are available to provide first for the allotment of such a number of teachers as to prevent the teacher loan from being too great in any school, the Board is authorized, in its discretion, to make an additional allotment of teaching personnel to local school administrative units of the State to be used either jointly or separately, as the Board may prescribe. Such additional teaching personnel may be used in the local school administrative units as librarians, special teachers, or supervisors of instruction and for other special instructional services such as art, music, physical education, adult education, special education, or industrial arts as may be authorized and approved by the Board. The salary of all such personnel shall be determined in accordance with the State salary schedule adopted by the Board.

In addition, the Board is authorized and empowered in its discretion, to make allotments of funds for clerical assistants for classified principals and for school social workers.

The Board is further authorized, in its discretion, to allot teaching personnel to local school administrative units for experimental programs and purposes.

The Board may also allot teaching and other positions, within funds available, to local school administrative units to allow local units to place personnel occupying those positions in private hospitals and treatment facilities for the limited purpose of providing education to students confined to those institutions.  The Board shall adopt rules to ensure that any such placements do not contribute to the profitability of private institutions and that they are otherwise in accordance with State and federal law. (1955, c. 1372, art. 2, s. 2; 1957, c. 541, s. 11; 1961, c. 969; 1963, c. 448, ss. 24, 27; c. 688, ss. 1, 2; c. 1223, s. 1; 1965, c. 1185, s. 2; 1967, c. 643, s. 1; 1969, c. 517, s. 1; 1971, c. 704, s. 4; c. 745; 1973, c. 476, s. 138; c. 675; 1975, c. 699, s. 2; c. 975; 1979, c. 300, s. 1; c. 935; 1981, c. 423, s. 1; 1985, c. 686, s. 1; 1989 (Reg. Sess., 1990), c. 1066, s. 92.)

 

§ 115C‑417.  Availability of funds allocated for staff development.

Funds allocated by the State Board of Education for staff development at the local level shall become available for expenditure on July 1 of each fiscal year and shall remain available for expenditure until December 31 of the subsequent fiscal year. (1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 900, s. 63(c); 1997‑443, s. 8.21.)

 

§ 115C‑418:  Repealed by Session Laws 1995, c. 450, s. 23.

 

§ 115C‑419.  Full‑time equivalent student calculation; report.

(a) The State Board of Education shall establish a formula for determining the full‑time equivalency of a student enrolled in a public school unit of the State for the purposes of providing State funds on a per pupil basis. The formula shall include the amount of instructional time required for the school day for a full‑time student.

(b) By October 15 of each year, the Department of Public Instruction shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Education/Higher Education, the House Appropriations Committee on Education, and the Fiscal Research Division of the General Assembly on the number of students and the full‑time equivalency of those students by public school unit and grade level from the prior school year. The data in the report shall be disaggregated by enrollment in courses offered by the public school units and those offered through other dual enrollment and joint programs, including North Carolina Virtual Public School, institutions of higher education, and nonpublic schools. (2021‑180, s. 7.17(a).)