Senate Bill 990, titled the Students First Act, combines higher-education privacy changes with two K-12 education finance initiatives and related appropriations. First, it creates the Protect Campus Survivors Act by making records of student disciplinary proceedings at public institutions of higher education confidential when they reveal personally identifiable information about a student, even if disclosure might otherwise be allowed under FERPA. It also clarifies that aggregated data, guidelines, instructions, and summaries that do not identify students remain disclosable. The bill applies the same confidentiality rule to UNC and community college records laws and makes the change effective immediately for qualifying records requests submitted on or after enactment.
The bill also directs the North Carolina Collaboratory’s Office of Learning Research to convene a work group to study how the state could transition K-12 public education from its current allotment-based funding system to a weighted student funding model. The work group must report a three-year transition strategy by July 15, 2027, and examine issues such as consolidating support funds into per-pupil allotments, changing teacher pay funding from position-based to dollar-based allotments, reorganizing project/resource funding, and possibly shifting disbursement duties from DPI to the State Education Assistance Authority. The bill appropriates $300,000 for this work.
In addition, the bill establishes a one-year Student-Based Educational Wallet Pilot Program for the 2027-2028 school year, to be run by the State Education Assistance Authority with one selected public school unit and one high school. Participating students could receive up to $395 each in an electronic account for qualifying educational expenses tied to eligible activities outside the traditional classroom, including internships, arts, STEM competitions, leadership programs, and some athletics. The pilot is designed to support personalized learning and credit-bearing opportunities, with parental agreements, preapproval of expenses, data-sharing, audits, and a final report on student outcomes and provider participation. The bill appropriates $445,000 for administration of the pilot.
The bill’s impact on state law is significant in three areas: it narrows public-records access for certain higher-education disciplinary records, launches a formal study of weighted student funding for public schools, and creates a new pilot program that uses state funds in student-controlled electronic accounts for approved educational activities. It also affects the roles of the UNC system, community colleges, DPI, the Collaboratory, and the State Education Assistance Authority, while creating new reporting, privacy, and administrative requirements for participating schools and providers.
No committee debate or vote history was provided, so the overall sentiment can only be inferred from the bill’s structure and title. The measure appears broadly student-focused and reform-oriented, with strong emphasis on privacy, flexibility, and expanded educational options. Likely points of contention include the shift toward weighted student funding, the use of student wallets for nontraditional learning, the involvement of outside providers and private financial managers, and the reduction of public access to disciplinary records. Those issues would most likely draw scrutiny from advocates of traditional funding formulas, transparency proponents, and those concerned about oversight of public education dollars.
The bill amends Chapter 132 and related higher-education statutes to exempt certain student disciplinary records from public-records disclosure when they contain personally identifiable information, while preserving access to non-identifying summaries and aggregated information. It also creates new study and pilot-program structures within the public education system, appropriating $745,000 in nonrecurring General Fund support to the UNC Board of Governors for the Collaboratory and the State Education Assistance Authority. The bill would affect public institutions of higher education, the UNC System, community colleges, DPI, local school units, the Collaboratory, and families participating in the pilot.
No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of support or opposition from legislative debate. Based on the bill’s framing, the measure appears to be presented as a student-centered reform package emphasizing privacy protection, funding flexibility, and expanded educational opportunities. At the same time, the breadth of the changes suggests the bill could attract both reform-minded support and skepticism from stakeholders concerned about transparency, accountability, and the shift away from traditional funding and governance structures.
The most likely areas of contention are the new confidentiality rule for student disciplinary records, the proposed transition to weighted student funding, and the student-based educational wallet pilot. Transparency advocates may object to limiting access to disciplinary records, even where FERPA might allow disclosure, while higher-education institutions may support clearer privacy protections. In K-12 finance, debate may center on whether consolidating allotments and changing teacher-pay funding improves flexibility or undermines existing funding safeguards. The pilot program may also draw scrutiny over the use of public funds for approved outside activities, the role of private vendors and financial managers, and whether the program’s limited scope and administrative costs justify the policy experiment.