A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT directing local boards of education to ensure that the student population at each school is economically diverse.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑47 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑47.  Powers and duties generally.
In addition to the powers and duties designated in G.S. 115C‑36, local boards of education shall have the power or duty:
…
(62)	To Ensure that the Student Population at Each School is Economically Diverse. – Local boards of education shall establish school attendance areas and assign students to schools in a manner that ensures that the percentage of students at a school who qualify to receive free or reduced‑price meals does not exceed by more than 15 percentage points the district‑wide percentage of such students at the grade levels represented in the school. If the State Board of Education finds that a local board of education has not complied with this subdivision, the assignment of students in the district shall be subject to the approval of the State Board of Education for the next school year."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑218.45(e) reads as rewritten:
"(e)	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, national origin, religion, or ancestry. A charter school whose mission is single‑sex education may limit admission on the basis of sex. Within one year after the charter school begins operation, the charter school shall make efforts for the population of the school to 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.
Except as otherwise provided by the mission of the school as set out in the charter, the percentage of students at a school who qualify to receive free or reduced‑price meals shall not exceed by more than 15 percentage points the percentage of such students in the local school administrative unit in which the charter school is located at the grade levels represented in the charter school. If the State Board of Education finds that a charter school has not complied with this subsection, the State Board of Education shall provide for the admission of students to the charter school for the next school year."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2015‑2016 school year.