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HB 846NORTH CAROLINASession 2025State Billin committee

High Impact

North Carolina General Assembly Passes Teacher Retention and Recruitment Bill Providing Tuition Waivers, Salary Supplements, and Stricter Safety Reporting

Original title: Teacher Retention and Recruitment.

Last action · April 10, 2025: Ref to the Com on Education - K-12, if favorable, Pensions and Retirement, if favorable, Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House (House action)Sponsors: Brian Echevarria and 9 others

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Introduced

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Floor Vote

Passed

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What This Bill Would Do

The North Carolina General Assembly introduces legislation to provide tuition waivers for children of veteran teachers, revive and revise the retired teachers program, expand teacher licensure reciprocity, and strengthen mandatory reporting requirements for school threats and assaults.

Why it matters

Public school teachers, retired educators, veteran teacher dependents, and local school administrative units face new rules regarding retirement employment caps, salary schedules, tuition benefits, and criminal incident reporting mandates.

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.

Directly affected

Public school teachers

Teachers are impacted by revised professional evaluation tools, reinstated retired teacher programs, licensure reciprocity rules, and strengthened reporting mandates for threats and assaults.

Directly affected

Qualifying retired teachers

Retired teachers are eligible for reemployment under specific salary step rules and postretirement earnings exemptions at high-need public schools.

Directly affected

Children of eligible veteran teachers

Dependents of teachers with 12, 16, or 20 years of service become eligible for reduced or waived tuition rates at UNC institutions and community colleges.

Directly affected

Local school administrative units

Local school boards and units must adhere to mandatory reporting rules for campus threats and assaults and manage reemployed retired teacher contracts.

Key Facts

Provides tuition waivers at University of North Carolina constituent institutions and community colleges for children of eligible veteran teachers with 12 or 16 years of service at reduced rates (50% and 75%), or 20 years of service for full waivers if permanently and totally disabled.
Appropriates $2,000,000 in recurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina for veteran teacher children tuition waivers.
Reenacts and revises the retired teachers program through June 30, 2030, allowing qualifying retired teachers to return to high-need schools under specific salary step rules.
Appropriates $10,000,000 in recurring funds for each year of the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium to the Department of State Treasurer to address increased costs to the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System.

Show all 10 facts

Appropriates $100,000 in nonrecurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to the Department of State Treasurer to obtain an IRS private letter ruling.
Expands teacher licensure reciprocity by requiring the State Board of Education to grant a Continuing Professional License to out-of-state teachers with at least three years of experience in good standing, or those currently teaching in states ranked in the top 25 for education by US News and World Report during three of the preceding five school years.
Strengthens reporting requirements by requiring school principals to immediately report specific acts (including assaults resulting in serious injury, weapons possessions, and threats directed at teachers) to local law enforcement.
Requires school employee supervisors to report student threats and physical injury assaults against school employees to the principal immediately.
Mandates that the UNC System Office report on the actual costs of veteran teacher children tuition waivers to legislative oversight committees no later than February 15, 2026.
Directs the State Board of Education to report on at least three potential professional evaluation tools for teachers no later than November 1, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who qualifies for the teacher tuition waiver under this bill?

Children of eligible veteran teachers with 12, 16, or 20 years of service in a public school unit qualify for reduced tuition rates or full waivers when attending UNC constituent institutions or community colleges, subject to specific age and duration limits.

How are retired teachers compensated if they return to the classroom?

Qualifying retired teachers reemployed at high-need schools are paid on the first step of the teacher salary schedule, or the sixth step if they serve in STEM or special education licensure areas.

What are the new reporting rules for threats against teachers?

School principals must immediately report acts involving assaults resulting in serious personal injury, threats directed at teachers, weapons possessions, and controlled substances violations to local law enforcement, and notify the superintendent in writing or by email by the end of the next workday.

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Where This Stands

Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.

Procedural history

3 actions

Apr 10, 2025House
Ref to the Com on Education - K-12, if favorable, Pensions and Retirement, if favorable, Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
Apr 10, 2025House
Passed 1st Reading
Apr 9, 2025HouseIntroduced
Filed

Version history

Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.

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