§ 115D-10.30.  Correction education programs.

(a) Approval. - No course of instruction shall be offered by any community college at State expense or partial State expense to any captive or co-opted group of students, as defined by the State Board of Community Colleges, without prior approval of the State Board. All course offerings approved for State prison inmates or prisoners in local jails must be tied to clearly identified job skills, transition needs, or both. Approval by the State Board shall be presumed to constitute approval of both the course and the group served by that institution. The State Board may delegate to the President the power to make an initial approval, with final approval to be made by the State Board. A course taught without such approval will not yield any full-time equivalent students, as defined by the State Board. Community colleges shall report full-time equivalent (FTE) student hours for correction education programs on the basis of student membership hours. Funds appropriated for community college courses for prison inmates shall be used only for inmates in State prisons. The first priority for the use of these funds shall be to restore the FTE for basic skills courses to the FY 2008-2009 level. Funds not needed for this purpose may be used for continuing education and curriculum courses related to job skills training. No community college shall operate a multi-entry/multi-exit class or program in a prison facility, except for a literacy class or program. The State Board shall work with the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice of the Department of Public Safety on offering classes and programs that match the average length of stay of an inmate in a prison facility.

(b) Courses in Federal Prisons. - Courses in federal prisons shall not earn regular budget full-time equivalents but may be offered on a self-supporting basis.  (2025-56, s. 1(a).)