GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2001

HOUSE BILL 1285
RATIFIED BILL

AN ACT TO PERMIT AN APPLICANT FOR INITIAL TEACHER CERTIFICATION TO TAKE THE APPROPRIATE SPECIALTY AREA TEST OR SUBJECT ASSESSMENT DURING THE APPLICANT'S SECOND YEAR OF TEACHING. 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑296(a) reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑296.  Board sets certification requirements.
(a)	The State Board of Education shall have entire control of certifying all applicants for teaching positions in all public elementary and high schools of North Carolina; and it shall prescribe the rules and regulations for the renewal and extension of all certificates and shall determine and fix the salary for each grade and type of certificate which it authorizes: Provided, that the State Board of Education shall require each applicant for an initial bachelors degree certificate or graduate degree certificate to demonstrate the applicant's academic and professional preparation by achieving a prescribed minimum score on a standard examination appropriate and adequate for that purpose. The State Board of Education shall permit an applicant to fulfill this requirement before or during the applicant's second year of teaching provided the applicant took the examination at least once during the first year of teaching. The State Board of Education shall make the standard initial certification exam sufficiently rigorous and raise the prescribed minimum score as necessary to ensure that each applicant has adequate academic and professional preparation to teach."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 17th day of May, 2001.

	_____________________________________
		 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

	_____________________________________
		 James B. Black
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	_____________________________________
		 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2001