NC H1126

Requires scholarship grant recipients to participate in common examinations selected by the Authority if selected for program evaluation purposes to maintain eligibility.

Mandates nonpublic schools accepting scholarship students to administer common examinations to selected students and provide grade retention rates and graduation rates to the Authority.

Directs the Authority to select an independent research organization to conduct evaluations comparing learning gains of scholarship recipients in nonpublic schools to public school students with similar socioeconomic backgrounds.

Requires the independent research organization to analyze competitive effects of the scholarship program on public school standardized test performance by local school administrative units, geographic region, and rural versus urban areas.

Increases Authority administrative cost retention from $1,500,000 to $2,150,000 annually, with $150,000 designated for evaluation expenses, and establishes December 1, 2021 as the deadline for the first learning gains report.