AN ACT to create THE HOMETOWN TEACHER GRANT PROGRAM, CALLED THE H.O.M.E. (HOMETOWN OPPORTUNITIES FOR MENTORING EDUCATORS) ACT.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Article 17D of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

§ 115C‑269.33.  Hometown Teacher Grant Program.

(a)        Definitions. – The following definitions shall apply in this section:

(1)        Eligible student. – A student of a local school administrative unit who either attended school for five years at a school in, or graduated from a high school in, the local school administrative unit.

(2)        Eligible teacher. – An eligible student who agrees to remain employed as a teacher in a school in the same local school administrative unit where qualified as an eligible student.

(3)        Program. – The Hometown Teacher Grant Program.

(b)        Program Established; Participation. – The Department shall establish the Hometown Teacher Grant Program. The purpose of the Program is to provide grants to local school administrative units to award funds for salary supplements for eligible teachers. The Department shall establish criteria for participation in the Program. The Department shall adopt standards to ensure that only eligible teachers receive an award of funds under the Program. Local school administrative units shall submit to the Department a list identifying the number of eligible teachers participating in the Program each year pursuant to a process to be established by the Department.

(c)        Agreement; Award. – To the extent funds are available for the Program, funds shall be awarded to an eligible teacher who enters into an agreement to remain employed as required by this section. Eligible teachers shall receive a salary supplement each month in the amount of five hundred dollars ($500.00) as long as the eligible teacher remains in compliance with the agreement.

(d)       Promotion. – Local boards of education receiving grants under the Program shall make efforts to promote the Program to high school students.

(e)        Report to the General Assembly. – The Department shall report no later than May 15, 2026, and annually thereafter while funds are awarded under the Program, to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee regarding the Program, including at least the following information:

(1)        Funds awarded under the Program, including the following:

a.         Demographic information regarding eligible teachers.

b.         Number of award recipients by local school administrative unit.

(2)        Placement rates, including the number of eligible teachers who have been employed in the same local school administrative unit in which they were eligible students.

(3)        Recommendations to improve the Program and increase the number of teachers in North Carolina.

SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in recurring funds for each fiscal year of the 2025‑2027 fiscal biennium for administration of the Program enacted by Section 1 of this act.

SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2025, and applies to eligible teachers entering agreements to participate in a program established in this act on or after that date.