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17 <br />SMART START: Smart Start is apublic-private initiative that provides early education funding to all of the <br />state's 100 counties. Smart Start funds are administered at the local level through local nonprofit organizations <br />called Local Partnerships. The North Carolina Partnership for Children (NCPC) is the statewide non-profit <br />organization that provides oversight and technical assistance for local partnerships. Services at the local level <br />range depending on local needs. Funding for Smart Start is currently $202.5 million in state funds. Smart Start <br />has raised more than $257 million in donations since it began. <br />Currently; 79 local partnerships are established throughout the state to administer funding and programs. Smart <br />Start funds are used to improve the quality of child care, make child care more affordable and accessible, <br />provide access to health services and offer family support. Smart Start has achieved tremendous results in these <br />areas and continues to strive to reach all children in North Carolina. <br />Smart Start has garnered much national recognition and is considered a model for comprehensive early <br />childhood education initiatives. In 2001, the NCPC established a National Technical Assistance Cerrter to assist <br />other states with the development of an early education initiative. <br />PART II LEAIVDRO DECISION <br />Background In 1994 <br />parents, school boards and students from five low-wealth counties filed a lawsuit saying that the State did not <br />provide enough money for them to provide a quality education for their children. •Six urban school districts also <br />asked to be parties to the Leandro lawsuit. The urban counties said that the state funding formula did not <br />provide them with sufficient money to educate their at-risk students and students for whom English is their <br />second language. In 2004 the state Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutional right of every student to have <br />the opportunity to receive a sound basic education and ordered the state to assume responsibility for the <br />educational deficiencies. <br />Minimum Leandro Requirements <br />Every classroom must be staffed with a competent, certified, well-trained teacher who is teaching the <br />Standard Course of Study by implementing effective educational methods that provide differentiated, <br />individualized instruction, assessment and remediation to the students iri that class. <br />A well-trained competent principal with the leadership skills and the ability to hire and to retain <br />competent, certified and well trained teachers must lead every class room. <br />Every school must be provided, in the most cost effective manner, the resources necessary to support <br />effective instruction within that school to meet the needs of all children, including at-risk children. <br />2006 Update EDUCATION BUDGET ITEMS <br />Disadvantaged Student Supplemental Funding (DSSF) Adds $27 million to local school systems to help <br />students at risk of academic failure and will be distributed among 99 districts in the state. The original 16 <br />plaintiff districts will continue to receive DSSF at the same level as in 2005, $22.5 million. <br />Low Wealth Supplemental Funding $41.9 million will be provided to low wealth counties for local school <br />districts <br />Restore Base Budge Funding Eliminates the $44 million discretionary cut to school budgets <br />More at Four $84.6 million will allow 3200 new program slots and increase funding per slot by $200. <br />2006-2007 Women's Draft Agenda 13 <br />