Bill
HB 910
HB 910 creates a DRIVE grant program and $2M/year for Grow-Your-Own and alternative paths to recruit, prepare, and retain diverse teachers of color across NC.
Status: Passed 1st Reading (NC, 2025)
Introduced: April 10, 2025 (filed earlier); Sponsors: Representatives Hawkins, Baker, F. Jackson, von Haefen (primary sponsors listed in bill text)
HB 910 implements recommendations from North Carolina’s Governor’s DRIVE Task Force to increase the racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of the educator workforce and to strengthen teacher recruitment and retention (including alternative pathways). The bill creates a competitive grant program to build strategic partnerships that expand the pipeline and support for educators of color and appropriates funding for related recruitment programs.
Part I — Alternative Pathways / Teacher Recruitment Models
- Appropriates $2,000,000 in recurring General Fund dollars to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) for the 2025–26 fiscal year.
- Funds are targeted to research-based “Grow‑Your‑Own” initiatives, 2+2 certification pathways, high-school career academies, the Teacher Cadet Program, Teaching as a Profession, TAs-to-Teachers, and Troops-to-Teachers programs across all regions.
Part II — DRIVE Grant Program (Developing a Representative and Inclusive Vision for Education)
- Establishes a DRIVE grant program administered by the State Board of Education in consultation with the Governor’s Office, UNC System Office, Community Colleges System Office, and the DRIVE Network.
- Grant purpose: increase recruitment and preparation of educators of color; support and retain educators of color; strengthen partnerships among LEAs, higher education, and community organizations.
Eligibility and application
- Applicants must form partnerships among at least two entities from a prescribed list (local school administrative units, HBCUs/HMSIs, educator preparation programs, public/private colleges, community colleges, alternative certification programs, community/nonprofit organizations).
- Proposals must target components of the educator continuum (recruitment, placement/induction, support/retention) and include evidence-based support, implementation timeline, and financial sustainability plans.
Allowable uses of funds (nonexclusive examples)
- Dual enrollment/education credit expansion, targeted recruitment, scholarships/loan forgiveness/tuition reimbursement strategies, paid clinical learning experiences, licensure/job placement support, induction/mentoring and affinity groups, support for professional organization/conference participation.
Selection, amounts, and evaluation
- State Board to issue an RFP by October 1, 2025; applications due December 1, 2025.
- A selection committee will choose up to five grantees by February 1, 2026; awarded grants may be expended over a five‑year period and may fund new or existing projects.
- DPI may use up to $300,000 of the appropriation to contract with the DRIVE Network (housed at the Public School Forum of NC, Inc.) to evaluate the program.
- DRIVE Network evaluation report due to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, Fiscal Research Division, and OSBM by September 1, 2027. State Board must report annually beginning January 1, 2027.
- Grantees must submit annual qualitative and quantitative reports (due September 1 each year).
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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