AN ACT to define the term school resource officer and require training for school resource officers and to require a school administrator or school social worker to sign a school‑based complaint initiated by a school resource officer prior to being filed in juvenile court.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  Article 8C of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

§ 115C‑105.70.  School resource officer.

(a)        A school resource officer is any law enforcement officer assigned to one or more public schools within a public school unit for at least 20 hours per week for more than 12 weeks per calendar year to assist with all of the following, consistent with any written memorandum of understanding between the public school unit and the law enforcement agency governing the school resource officer:

(1)        School safety.

(2)        School security.

(3)        Emergency preparedness.

(4)        Emergency response.

(5)        Any additional responsibilities related to school safety or security assigned by the officer's employer while the officer is acting as a school resource officer.

(b)        All school resource officers shall comply with initial training standards, as established by subsection (c) of this section, within one year of being assigned as a school resource officer. After initial training, all school resource officers shall comply with continuing education standards, as established by subsection (c) of this section.

(c)        The North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission and the North Carolina Sheriffs' Education and Training Standards Commission, in collaboration with the Center for Safer Schools, shall establish initial training and continuing education standards for school resource officers. These standards shall, at a minimum, include training on the following topics: mental health, students with disabilities, racial equity, and crisis intervention and de‑escalation.

SECTION 1.(b)  G.S. 17C‑6(a) is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:

(23)    Establish initial training and continuing education training standards for school resource officers, as set forth in G.S. 115C‑105.70.

SECTION 1.(c)  G.S. 17E‑4(a) is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:

(19)    Establish initial training and continuing education training standards for school resource officers, as set forth in G.S. 115C‑105.70.

SECTION 1.(d)  The North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission and the North Carolina Sheriffs' Education and Training Standards Commission shall establish initial training standards for school resource officers no later than January 15, 2027.

SECTION 1.(e)  Subsection (a) of this section applies to school resource officers assigned on or after January 1, 2027. All school resource officers assigned before January 1, 2027, shall complete initial training no later than December 31, 2027.

SECTION 2.(a)  Article 18 of Chapter 7B of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

§ 7B‑1802A.  School‑based complaints.

A school‑based complaint in which delinquency is alleged to have occurred initiated by a school resource officer, as defined in G.S. 115C‑105.70, shall be signed by a school administrator or school social worker prior to being referred in accordance with G.S. 7B‑1803 or filed in a court of competent jurisdiction. For the purposes of this section, a school‑based complaint means a complaint in which delinquency is alleged to have occurred on school grounds, school property, at a school bus stop, or at an off‑campus school‑sanctioned event, or whose victim is identified as a school.

SECTION 2.(b)  This section becomes effective January 1, 2027, and applies to school‑based complaints initiated on or after that date by school resource officers.

SECTION 3.(a)  The Executive Director of the Center for Safer Schools shall establish the School Resource Officer Critical Needs Grant Program to provide qualifying public school units, as defined in G.S. 143B‑1209.101, grants to help alleviate costs incurred by the public school units from any increase in salaries or other pay resulting from the implementation of G.S. 115C‑105.70, as enacted by Section 1(a) of this act. The Executive Director of the Center for Safer Schools shall establish guidelines for the disbursal of grants under this section, including a preference for local school administrative units that (i) receive funds under Part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, (ii) are located in a rural area of the State, and (iii) serve students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

SECTION 3.(b)  Beginning in the 2026‑2027 fiscal year, there is appropriated from the General Fund the sum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) in recurring funds to the Center for Safer Schools to use for the School Resource Officer Critical Needs Grant Program established in subsection (a) of this section.

SECTION 3.(c)  This section becomes effective July 1, 2026.

SECTION 4.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.