For the first time, North Carolina would have to publicly track whether state-funded trainees aiming to become school principals actually take those jobs, under legislation that cleared a North Carolina House committee on May 19.
House Bill 1143, sponsored by state Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, passed the House Education Committee without opposition and was referred to appropriations. In addition to the new tracking mechanism, the bill would add $5 million in recurring funds to the state’s Principal Fellows program, the main pipeline producing new school administrators.
Launched in 1993, Principal Fellows pays for teachers and assistant principals to leave the classroom and earn a master’s degree in school administration. The current version, merged in 2021 with a related program, awards competitive grants to up to eight North Carolina universities at a time, which partner with local districts to select and train the candidates.
The program’s office at the UNC System reports that 481 candidates have earned principal licensure through the program since the 2021 merger, and the program now produces roughly 40% of newly hired principals each year.
HB 1143 would add $5 million a year to the program starting in mid-2026 — $2.6 million to bring one smaller class of trainees up to the size of earlier classes, and $2.4 million to grow the program overall.
Blackwell told the committee the additional money would “potentially meet the needs of approximately 55% of our need for high school and elementary and middle school principals going forward.”
Committee chair state Rep. David Willis, R-Union, praised the effort, telling Blackwell that “aside from our teachers, our school leadership or principals are the most critical aspect of our schools.”
The bill also creates a new developmental grant — up to $250,000 per year, renewable for up to five years — for up to two universities a year that apply for the Principal Fellows program but aren’t selected in a given round.
“We have schools that come very close and might be excellent, but they don’t quite make the cut,” Blackwell said. “The developmental grant is meant to both encourage and help prepare other schools that aren’t selected, so that when they apply the next time they’ve got a better opportunity to maybe to break into the final six or eight.”
Not all aspiring school administrators in North Carolina go through Principal Fellows. The state also pays stipends to trainees in other approved programs during their internships, but DPI is not required to report whether they actually become administrators.
Under the bill, DPI would have to report each February to the legislature on the number of stipend recipients who actually serve as an assistant principal or principal in a public school within five years of finishing their internship.
“We’re paying money for them to go to school to do some salary replacement, but is it working that we’re really getting a significant portion of those students who are actually going into school administration?” Blackwell asked in committee.
The stipends would last 10 months and equal whichever is higher: the starting salary for an assistant principal or the teacher pay the trainee would have earned that year. If state funds fall short, DPI could use the State Public School Fund to make up the difference.