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> 6 <br />North Carolina’s first state constitution in 1776 included an <br />education provision that stated, “A School or Schools shall be <br />established by the Legislature for the convenient Instruction <br />of Youth.” The legislature provided no financial support for <br />schools. <br />A century later, the constitution adopted after the Civil War <br />required the state to provide funding for all children ages 6-21 <br />to attend school tuition-free. In 1901, the General Assembly <br />appropriated $100,000 for public schools, marking the first <br />time there was a direct appropriation of tax revenue for public <br />schools. Today, the constitution mandates that the state pro- <br />vide a “general and uniform system of free public schools” and <br />that the state legislature may assign counties “such respon- <br />sibility for the financial support of the free public schools as <br />it may deem appropriate.” N.C. Const. art. IX, § 2 (see note, <br />“Sources of Local School Finance Law: The North Carolina <br />State Constitution”). <br />The constitution adopted after the Civil War required <br />the state to provide funding for all children ages 6-21 <br />to attend school tuition-free. <br />> STATE AND LOCAL SCHOOL FUNDING IN NORTH CAROLINA: <br />A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE <br /> SOURCES OF LOCAL SCHOOL FINANCE LAW: <br />THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE CONSTITUTION <br />Article IX, Sec. 2. Uniform system of schools. <br />(1) General and uniform system: term. The General Assembly shall provide by taxation and otherwise for a general <br />and uniform system of free public schools, which shall be maintained at least nine months in every year, and wherein <br />equal opportunities shall be provided for all students. (2) Local responsibility. The General Assembly may assign <br />to units of local government such responsibility for the financial support of the free public schools as it may deem <br />appropriate. The governing boards of units of local government with financial responsibility for public education <br />may use local revenues to add to or supplement any public school or post-secondary school program.