GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

S	1 

SENATE BILL 757

Short Title:  Pre-K Program to Meet Educ. Needs.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senators Rucho; Allran, Ballantine, Clodfelter, Cochrane, Dannelly, Forrester, Foxx, Gulley, Lucas, Odom, Perdue, Plyler, and Rand.

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Referred to:  Appropriations/Base Budget.

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April 5, 1999

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO ESTABLISH A LITERACY-BASED PRESCHOOL GRANT PROGRAM TO PREPARE AT-RISK STUDENTS FOR KINDERGARTEN.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  (a) There is appropriated from the General Fund to State Aid to Local School Administrative Units the sum of sixty-three million six hundred thousand dollars ($63,600,000) for the 1999-2000 fiscal year and the sum of sixty-three million six hundred thousand dollars ($63,600,000) for the 2000-2001 fiscal year to establish a literacy-based preschool grant program to prepare at-risk students for kindergarten.  The State Board of Education shall distribute these funds on a grant basis to local school administrative units that match State funds on a dollar-for-dollar basis by committing federal funds received under Title I of the Improving America's Schools Act, Smart Start funds, and other non-State funds to the program.
(b) Local boards of education shall use these funds to establish a program similar to the Bright Beginnings Program in Mecklenburg County.  The purpose of the program shall be to assist four-year-olds who might otherwise begin kindergarten already behind their peers to build the literacy-based foundation that they will need to succeed when they begin kindergarten.
Students who participate in the program shall be identified according to their educational need.  The local board of education shall collaborate with other local agencies in recruiting children for the program.
The program shall last at least six hours a day.  Each classroom shall have a teacher and a teacher's assistant.  Teachers shall receive extensive staff development for the program.
The curriculum shall be child-centered, with a strong focus on language development and emergent literacy.  The curriculum shall be aligned with the local K-3 curriculum.
Parental involvement shall be a requirement of the program.  Parents of participating children must agree to ensure regular attendance by their children, adult supervision at the bus stop before and after school, current immunizations, parental attendance at a program orientation session and at parent-teacher conferences, parental participation in at least four school events, regular reading and other literacy activities at home, parental participation in a minimum of five hours of family-school partnership workshops, ongoing communications with their children's teachers, and community participation and collaboration.
Section 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1999.