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Read. Follow. Verify.North Carolina House Bill 420 invests billions in public education, raising teacher and principal salaries, expanding pre-K, and reforming funding formulas
Last action · March 18, 2025: Ref To Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House (House action)Sponsors: von Haefen and 38 others
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What This Bill Would Do
Representative von Haefen and co-sponsors introduced House Bill 420 to enact sweeping educational reforms and appropriations for North Carolina public schools beginning in the 2025-2026 . The measure establishes a new teacher salary schedule, raises compensation for principals and assistant principals, expands the NC Pre-K and Teaching Fellows programs, and allocates billions of dollars across multiple educational funding allotments.
The legislation directly alters state funding formulas, school operating budgets, personnel compensation schedules, and grant distributions across North Carolina's public school system, involving billions of dollars in recurring and nonrecurring appropriations from the General Fund.
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Public school teachers
Licensed teachers are compensated under a newly established monthly salary schedule and become eligible for various salary supplements, professional development allotments, and national board certification fee reimbursements.
Local school administrative units
Local school boards receive revised funding allotment distributions, formula updates for low-wealth counties, children with disabilities, and instructional support personnel, alongside increased flexibility in budget transfers.
Children with disabilities
Funding allocations for students with disabilities shift to a model based on the reported cost of services provided, supported by increased state appropriations.
Charter schools
Charter schools receive direct allocations of per-pupil local current expense funds and are authorized to receive direct capital funds from counties.
Key Facts
- Appropriates $872,642,336 in recurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to implement educator raises according to a new monthly teacher salary schedule based on years of experience.
- Appropriates $26,436,180 in recurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to increase principal salaries based on average daily membership and school growth scores.
- Appropriates $22,862,984 in recurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to increase assistant principal salaries based on teacher salary schedules plus 19%.
- Establishes the Educator Professional Development Allotment, appropriating $101,150,000 for 2025-2026 and $128,450,000 for 2026-2027.
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- Authorizes a statewide general obligation bond referendum for $2,000,000,000 in Education Bonds for public school capital outlay projects, to be voted on in 2028.
- Revises funding for children with disabilities, appropriating $351,924,273 for 2025-2026 and $450,324,273 for 2026-2027 to fund services based on reported costs.
- Appropriates $125,600,000 for 2025-2026 and $165,100,000 for 2026-2027 to revise supplemental funding in low-wealth counties.
- Appropriates $140,700,000 for 2025-2026 and $181,000,000 for 2026-2027 for limited English proficiency students based on a weighted headcount without a funding cap.
- Establishes the teacher assistant allotment with appropriations of $142,600,000 for 2025-2026, scaling student-to-assistant ratios to 1:27 by 2027-2028.
- Modifies school performance score calculations by weighting school achievement at 51% and school growth at 49% starting in the 2025-2026 school year.
- Establishes the Office of Equity Affairs within the Department of Public Instruction and appropriates $400,000 for staff positions.
- Appropriates $258,300,000 for 2025-2026 and $333,400,000 for 2026-2027 to expand the NC Pre-K program, aiming for 100% cost coverage and 75% eligible child reach by 2027-2028.
- Appropriates $37,300,000 for 2025-2026 and $48,500,000 for 2026-2027 for the New Teacher Support Program to mentor beginning teachers in low-performing or high-poverty schools.
- Appropriates $29,900,000 for 2025-2026 and $37,000,000 for 2026-2027 to expand the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program forgivable loan framework.
Frequently Asked Questions
How will teacher salaries change under this bill?
What is the purpose of the proposed $2 billion education bond?
How does the bill affect funding for students with disabilities?
What changes are made to school performance score calculations?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
3 actions- Mar 18, 2025HouseRef To Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
- Mar 18, 2025HousePassed 1st Reading
- Mar 17, 2025HouseIntroducedFiled
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Show 34 more sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Shift to Cost-Based and Weighted Student Funding
The bill shifts multiple funding mechanisms, such as provisions for children with disabilities and low-wealth county allotments, toward cost-based and weighted student models.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.ncleg.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance98How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy65Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz85Current news / social attention level
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