AN ACT to require the state board of EDUCATION to approve the substitution of a new partner institution of higher education for the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and the Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy and to appropriate funds for tuition payments for cooperative innovative high schools.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

part i. substitution of a new partner institution of higher education for Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy

SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding G.S. 115C‑238.51A, the following shall occur:

(1)        The State Board of Education shall approve an application to substitute the partner institution of higher education from the 2023‑2024 school year for the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and the Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy with a new partner institution of higher education, beginning as early as the 2024‑2025 school year, if the following occur:

a.         The board of education of Wake County Schools and the applicable governing Board of the local board of trustees of the partner institution of higher education submit an application for substitution to the State Board. The application shall comply with procedural requirements established by the State Board for the submission of such an application.

b.         The State Board determines that the partner institution of higher education complies with the requirements for a partner institution of higher education under Part 9 of Article 16 of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes.

(2)        If the application for the substitution of a partner institution of higher education is approved by the State Board in accordance with subdivision (1) of this section, beginning with the fiscal year in which the approval occurs, the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and the Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy shall continue to receive the recurring State funds that were appropriated for those schools in the 2023‑2024 fiscal year.

part ii. appropriation for tuition payments for cooperative innovative high schools

SECTION 2.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of one hundred eleven thousand four hundred eighty‑four dollars ($111,484) in recurring funds for the 2024‑2025 fiscal year to address a shortfall in funds for tuition payments needed for cooperative innovative high schools in the State.

SECTION 2.(b)  This section becomes effective July 1, 2024.

part iii. effective date

SECTION 3.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.