AN ACT to establish the parent‑teacher association launch pilot grant program.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  Definitions. – As used in this section, the following definitions apply:

(1)        Department. – The Department of Public Instruction.

(2)        Parent‑Teacher Association (PTA). – A group of public school teachers and parents of students enrolled in the public school that work together for the improvement of the school and benefit of the students.

(3)        Public school. – A school within a local school administrative unit.

SECTION 1.(b)  Program; Purpose. – The Department shall establish the A PTA for Every School Grant Program (Program) for the 2026‑2027 fiscal year to provide supplemental funds to assist public schools with establishing PTAs. The goal of the Program is to promote having an active PTA in every public school in the State.

SECTION 1.(c)  Application. – The Department shall establish an application process for the Program. Any local school administrative unit that contains schools without an existing PTA may apply for the Program on behalf of those schools. As part of the application process, the local school administrative unit shall identify the source of matching funds.

SECTION 1.(d)  Award; Required Match. – Local school administrative units are eligible to receive grants for one year in the amount of two thousand dollars ($2,000) per public school within the unit that does not have a PTA, up to a maximum of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) total per local school administrative unit. The local school administrative unit shall provide certification to the Department that the grant received under the Program shall be matched on the basis of two dollars ($2.00) in grant funds for every one dollar ($1.00) in nongrant funds. Matching funds shall not include other State funds.

SECTION 1.(e)  Local Allocation. – Recipient local school administrative units have discretion to allocate grant funds among public schools in the unit that do not have an existing PTA; however, the school shall certify that one PTA was created for every two thousand dollars ($2,000) received. For every PTA not established, the local school administrative unit shall revert two thousand dollars ($2,000) but shall not revert a total amount greater than the total award received by the local school administrative unit.

SECTION 1.(f)  Report. – No later than April 1, 2027, the Department shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on (i) the number of local school administrative units that applied for the Program, (ii) the number of local school administrative units that received an award under the Program, (iii) the number of schools that established a PTA as a result of Program participation, and (iv) any impacts on student outcomes identified as a result of having a PTA.

SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of one million two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($1,250,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2026‑2027 fiscal year for the Department to establish the A PTA for Every School Grant Program, as authorized by this act. The Department may retain up to eighty thousand dollars ($80,000) for costs associated with administering the Program.

SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2026.