A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to authorize the department of public instruction to use funds to conduct a pilot program on integrated community‑based adapted sports programs for students with disabilities.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Of the funds appropriated to the Department of Public Instruction or State Aid for Public Schools for the 2017‑2019 fiscal biennium, the Department may use up to three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) each fiscal year to develop and implement a pilot program for an integrated community‑based adapted sports program for students with disabilities in grades kindergarten through 12. If the Department uses funds for this purpose, the pilot program shall be consistent with the "Dear Colleague" letter addressing equal access to extracurricular athletics for students with disabilities released by the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, on January 25, 2013. The pilot program shall also include specific strategies to overcome barriers to the participation of students with disabilities in extracurricular athletics and incorporate a philosophy of personal empowerment for those students. The pilot program may be conducted in one or more local school administrative units and provide for collaboration with universities and community colleges and other community organizations to achieve the purposes of the program.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2017.