North Carolina Senate reviews Sen. Lee’s proposal on student privacy and school funding changes

Sen. Michael V. Lee has introduced a bill intended to strengthen protections for student records and to initiate a pilot program focused on student-based school funding, according to the North Carolina State Senate.

Filed as SB 990 on April 30 amid the 2025 regular session, the legislation carries the short title: ‘Students First Act.’

The following is a summary based on the actual bill text, including clarifying interpretation of its main points.

The measure would bolster confidentiality requirements by designating personally identifiable disciplinary records at public higher education institutions as nonpublic records, revising relevant statutes, and applying these rules to future records requests if enacted. Additionally, the North Carolina Collaboratory’s Office of Learning Research would be tasked with forming a work group to craft a three-year transition to a weighted student funding formula for K-12 schools, with $300,000 in nonrecurring funds allocated for this planning. The bill also establishes a pilot Student-Based Educational Wallet program for the 2027-28 year at one high school, providing up to $395 per student for approved learning activities, outlining roles for parents, data sharing, audits, limits on public records, and directing $445,000 to the State Education Assistance Authority to manage the initiative. The act is set to take effect July 1, 2026, unless otherwise noted.

Sen. Lee, one of three sponsors, introduced 54 bills in the 2025 regular session, the highest among co-sponsors.

Legislation in North Carolina follows a multi-step procedure before becoming law. First, a lawmaker files a bill, which is then sent to a committee for evaluation. The bill must be read three separate times in each legislative chamber. If amendments are made by one chamber after the other has passed it, both must agree to the final version. When both chambers pass the same language, the bill goes to the governor, who has 10 days (or 30 if the legislature is out of session) to sign, veto, or allow it to become law without signature.

More information on bills and legislative actions is available here.

Lee holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1991) and a JD from Wake Forest University Law School (1997).

Lee, a Republican, began representing North Carolina’s 7th Senate district in 2023, succeeding Jim Perry.