North Carolina § 115C-64 - 15. North Carolina Education and Workforce Innovation Commission.

§ 115C-64. 15. North Carolina Education and Workforce Innovation Commission.

There is created the North Carolina Education and Workforce Innovation Commission (Commission). The Commission shall be located administratively in the Department of Public Instruction but shall exercise all its prescribed powers independently of the Department of Public Instruction. Of the funds appropriated for the Education and Workforce Innovation Program established under G.S. 115C-64.16, up to ten percent (10%) of those funds each fiscal year may be used by the Department of Public Instruction to provide technical assistance and administrative assistance, including staff, to the Commission and for reimbursements and expenses for the Commission for the Education and Workforce Innovation Program and the Career and Technical Education Grade Expansion Program. The Commission shall consist of the following 14 members: The Secretary of Commerce or his or her designee. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction or his or her designee. The Chair of the State Board of Education or his or her designee. The President of The University of North Carolina or his or her designee. The President of the North Carolina Community College System or his or her designee. Three members appointed by the Governor who have experience in education. Three members appointed by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as provided in G.S. 120-121, who have experience in businesses operating in North Carolina. Three members appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, as provided in G.S. 120-121, who have experience in businesses operating in North Carolina. Members appointed by the Governor or the General Assembly shall serve for three-year terms commencing July 1 of the year of appointment and may serve successive terms. The Commission members shall elect a chair from the membership of the Commission. The Commission shall meet at least three times annually on the call of the Chair or as additionally provided by the Commission. A quorum is six members of the Commission. Members may not send designees to Commission meetings nor may they vote by proxy. The Commission shall develop and administer the Education and Workforce Innovation Program, as established under G.S. 115C-64.16, in collaboration with the North Carolina Career and Technical Education Foundation, Inc., and make awards of grants under the Program. The Commission shall develop and administer, in coordination with the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and in collaboration with the North Carolina Career and Technical Education Foundation, Inc., the Career and Technical Education Grade Expansion Program, as established under G.S. 115C-64.17, and shall make awards of grants under the Program. The North Carolina Career and Technical Education Foundation, Inc., shall serve as a grant administrator by providing assistance and support to grantees for initiating, expanding, improving, and promoting career and technical education initiatives. The Commission, in consultation with the North Carolina Career and Technical Education Foundation, Inc., shall publish a report on the Education and Workforce Innovation Program and the Career and Technical Education Grade Expansion Program on or before April 30 of each year. The report shall be submitted to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, the State Board of Education, the State Board of Community Colleges, and the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina. The report shall include at least all of the following information: An accounting of how funds and personnel resources were utilized for each program and their impact on student achievement, retention, and employability. Recommended statutory and policy changes. Recommendations for improvement of each program. For the Career and Technical Education Grade Expansion Program, recommendations on increasing availability of grants after the first two years of the program to include additional local school administrative units or providing additional grants to prior recipients. History (2013-360, s. 8.34(a); 2013-363, s. 3.10(a); 2014-100, s. 23.1(e); 2017-57, ss. 7.23F(a), 7.23G(b); 2019-165, s. 5; 2020-78, s. 2.2(a).) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2013-360, s. 8.34(a), enacted this section as G.S. 115C-64.10. It has been renumbered as this section at the direction of the Revisor of Statutes. Session Laws 2013-360, s. 8.34(b), (c), provides: "(b) The North Carolina Education and Workforce Innovation Commission (Commission), as established by G.S. 115C-64.15 , as enacted by this section, shall conduct a study to determine the most efficient way to fund dual enrollment for high school students in college coursework. The Commission shall report the results of this study to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by October 1, 2014. "(c) The appointments to the Commission as set forth in G.S. 115C-64.15 , as enacted by this section, shall be made by the appointing entities no later than September 1, 2013. The Commission shall hold its first meeting no later than October 1, 2013." Session Laws 2013-360, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as the 'Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2013.'" Session Laws 2013-360, s. 38.2, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2013-2015 fiscal biennium, the textual provisions of this act apply only to funds appropriated for, and activities occurring during, the 2013-2015 fiscal biennium." Session Laws 2013-360, s. 38.5, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2013-363, s. 3.10(c), provides: "If Senate Bill 402, 2013 Regular Session, becomes law, then notwithstanding any provision of that act, the Department of Public Instruction shall not use any of the funds appropriated to it in that act, as amended by this act, for the 2013-2015 fiscal biennium to support the program for competitive grants established in Section 8.34 of that act." Session Laws 2013-363, s. 3.10, was contingent upon Senate Bill 402, 2013 Regular Session, becoming law. Senate Bill 402 was enacted as Session Laws 2013-360. Session Laws 2014-100, s. 23.1(f), provides: "The terms of members appointed by the Governor or the General Assembly who are serving on the Commission on the effective date of this section shall expire June 30, 2016." Session Laws 2014-100, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as 'The Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2014.'" Session Laws 2014-100, s. 38.4, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2014-2015 fiscal year, the textual provisions of this act apply only to funds appropriated for, and activities occurring during, the 2014-2015 fiscal year." Session Laws 2014-100, s. 38.7, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2017-57, s. 7.23F(c), (d), as amended by Session Laws 2018-5, s. 7.8(a), provides: "(c) For the 2017-2019 fiscal biennium, the following funds shall be allocated to the North Carolina Education and Workforce Innovation Commission (Commission) established in G.S. 115C-64.15 , as amended by Section 7.23G of this act, for the award of grants to grant recipients for the Career and Technical Education Grade Expansion Program in accordance with G.S. 115C-64.17 , as enacted by this section: "(1) Of the funds appropriated by this act to the Department of Public Instruction for the 2017-2019 fiscal biennium, the Department shall allocate the sum of seven hundred thousand dollars ($700,000) each fiscal year to the Commission. "(2) Of the funds appropriated by this act to the Department of Public Instruction for the 2017-2018 fiscal year, the Department of Public Instruction shall allocate the sum of three million five hundred thousand dollars ($3,500,000) for the 2017-2018 fiscal year to the Commission. "(d) The nonrecurring funds allocated to the Commission under subdivision (2) of subsection (c) of this section shall not revert at the end of the 2017-2018 fiscal year but shall remain available until expended." Session Laws 2017-57, s. 7.23G(a), provides: "The North Carolina Education and Workforce Innovation Commission (Commission) is hereby transferred to the Department of Public Instruction. This transfer shall have all of the elements of a Type II transfer, as described in G.S. 143A-6 , except that the management functions of the Commission, except for the provision of technical assistance and administrative assistance, including staff, shall not be performed under the direction and supervision of the Department of Public Instruction." Session Laws 2017-57, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as the 'Current Operations Appropriations Act of 2017.'" Session Laws 2017-57, s. 39.4, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2017-2019 fiscal biennium, the textual provisions of this act apply only to funds appropriated for, and activities occurring during, the 2017-2019 fiscal biennium." Session Laws 2017-57, s. 39.6, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2020-78, s. 2.2(c), made the amendment of this section by Session Laws 2020-78, s. 2.2(a), applicable to the administration of grant programs on or after July 1, 2020. Session Laws 2020-78, s. 22.1, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2019-2021 fiscal biennium, the textual provisions of this act apply only to the 2019-2021 fiscal biennium." Session Laws 2020-78, s. 22.3, is a severability clause. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2013-363, s. 3.10(a), effective July 1, 2013, substituted "Office of the Governor" for "Department of Public Instruction" throughout subsection (a). Session Laws 2014-100, s. 23.1(e), effective July 1, 2014, in subsection (b), substituted "14 members" for "11 members" in the introductory language, and substituted "Three members" for "Two members" in subdivisions (b)(6) through (b)(8); and added subsection (b1). Session Laws 2017-57, s. 7.23F(a), effective July 1, 2017, deleted the second sentence in subsection (d) that formerly read "The Commission shall work closely with the North Carolina New Schools in administering the program"; added subsection (d1); and in subsection (e) inserted "and the Career and Technical Education Grade Expansion Program" in the introductory paragraph and added subdivision (e)(4); and made stylistic changes. Session Laws 2017-57, s. 7.23G(b), effective July 1, 2017, in subsection (a), substituted "Department of Public Instruction" for "Office of the Governor" throughout, substituted "ten percent (10%) of those funds" for "two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000)" in the third sentence, and added "for the Education and Workforce Innovation Program and the Career and Technical Education Grade Expansion Program" at the end. Session Laws 2019-165, s. 5, effective July 26, 2019, rewrote subsection (b). Session Laws 2020-78, s. 2.2(a), effective July 1, 2020, inserted "in collaboration with the North Carolina Career and Technical Education Foundation, Inc." in subsections (d) and (d1); added subsection (d2); and inserted "in consultation with the North Carolina Career and Technical Education Foundation, Inc." in the first sentence of subsection (e). For applicability, see editor's note. Legal Periodicals. - For article, "Herding Cats: Governing Distributed Innovation," see 96 N.C.L. Rev. 945 (2018).