UPDATE, April 27, 6:45 p.m. Gov. Roy Cooper signed H.B. 13 into law.

UPDATE, April 27. 4:25 p.m: The House agreed with the revised Senate version of the bill Thursday afternoon, passing it by a 112-3 margin. 

After weeks of outrage from school administrators who worry that lower class sizes will mean cutting elective courses and teachers, lawmakers seem to have fixed the problem. At least for the coming school year.

The General Assembly has spent a lot of money, $152 million since 2014, to help school districts shrink K-3 class sizes.

But that money largely has been misspent, leaving class sizes unchanged, said Sen. Chad Barefoot, R-Franklin/Wake, during an April 24 Senate committee meeting.

Barefoot is the Senate sponsor for House Bill 13, “Class Size Requirement Changes,” which passed the body late Tuesday.

The legislation shores up existing class size laws and puts accountability measures in place for school districts.

Class size funding is tough to track.

Most school administrators can’t tell lawmakers where the money has gone, Barefoot said.

“Imagine our surprise when we found out that in many cases these dollars have been spent on something else,” he said. “We understand the current law has some flexibility; a matter of fact, this General Assembly gave local school districts most of the flexibility they currently have. And we acknowledge that the current rule will reduce some of that flexibility.”

The bill addresses two key issues, said Terry Stoops, vice president of research and education studies at the John Locke Foundation.

Short term, H.B. 13 would ensure that class size funding doesn’t impede funding for art, music, and physical education teachers, he said.

The bill also would increase accountability, requiring districts to detail teacher assignments, funding allocations, class sizes, and number of elective teachers.

Political gamesmanship and tactics from some superintendents has been problematic, Barefoot said.

Mandating smaller class sizes could cause problems for rural school districts. Larger metropolitan districts often pay higher salary supplements and could poach teachers from rural districts to fill openings caused by the demand for more teachers.

Rural school officials worry they would have to hire more long-term substitute teachers, causing classroom performance to suffer.

But administrators were largely cooperative with lawmakers during the drafting of H.B. 13, Stoops said.

“It’s important to note that Senate lawmakers collaborated with school administrators on this bill. Superintendents and principals are typically responsible for budgeting and human resources at the district and school levels, respectively, so their endorsement is critical.

H.B. 13 passed the Senate with the support of the N.C. Association of School Administrators.

The bill is on its way back to the House, where members will vote on the Senate’s amended version.

“Districts have been awaiting a resolution to this issue for weeks,” Stoops said. “As such, I suspect that the House will concur and Governor [Roy] Cooper will sign the bill soon after it is ratified.”