Can the NC Principal Fellows Commission approve school administrator programs at private colleges in NC, and award scholarship loans to students enrolled in those private programs, or is the Commission limited to UNC system institutions?

Plain-English summary

The NC Principal Fellows Program awards scholarship loans to students pursuing a master's degree to qualify as school administrators (principals and assistant principals). The program is administered by the Principal Fellows Commission in collaboration with the State Education Assistance Authority (SEAA), which handles the financial aid mechanics.

Karen F. Gerringer at the Commission asked whether the Commission could approve school administrator programs at private NC institutions and fund students enrolled there, or whether the Commission was limited to public/UNC-system institutions. Senior Deputy AG Grayson G. Kelley and Special Deputy AG Thomas J. Ziko said yes, the Commission can include private programs.

The statutory structure runs as follows:

• G.S. § 116-74.42 sets up the Program and assigns it to the Commission "in collaboration with the State Education Assistance Authority." Subsection (c) says "[a]pproved programs are those chosen by the Commission from among school administrator programs within the State." Subsection (e) says the Commission shall develop and administer the Program "in cooperation with school administrator programs at institutions approved by the Commission" and shall develop criteria and a process for approving campus program sites.

• G.S. § 116-19 authorizes SEAA (which handles the financial aspects) to administer programs with private institutions. So the financial side of the Program is already statutorily compatible with private institutions.

• G.S. § 116-74.6 requires the UNC Board of Governors to establish nine school administrator programs within the UNC system constituent institutions. That confirms the existence of public programs but does not foreclose private ones.

• G.S. § 116-74.41(a) explicitly says the Principal Fellows Commission exercises its powers and duties separate from the Board of Governors. The Commission is not a sub-component of UNC.

The AG used a couple of construction principles. Words in statutes are given their ordinary meaning (Southern Bell Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Clayton, 266 N.C. 687 (1966)). The statute's language ("institutions approved by the Commission") is broad on its face. The statute says approved programs must be "within the State," but says nothing limiting approval to public or UNC system institutions.

The AG also pointed to the Teaching Fellows Commission as a parallel structural case. The Teaching Fellows Commission (G.S. § 115C-363.22) exercises authority independent of the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction and has historically awarded scholarship loans to students attending private institutions. There is no statutory reason to read the Principal Fellows program more narrowly.

Conclusion: the Commission may approve school administrator programs at private institutions and award scholarship loans to qualifying students in those programs.

The opinion is short but functionally important. It cleared the way for the Commission to fund students at private NC institutions with master's-level school administrator programs, expanding the talent pipeline for NC principal positions beyond the nine UNC programs.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1999. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

The Principal Fellows Program statutes (G.S. § 116-74.41 et seq.) have been amended multiple times since 1999, and the structure of the Principal Fellows Commission and SEAA's role have evolved. The Teaching Fellows Program was eliminated and later revived; that history affects the strength of the structural analogy used in the opinion. Anyone working on Principal Fellows eligibility today should pull current Article 5C of Chapter 116 and check for later amendments and AG opinions.

Common questions

Q: What is the Principal Fellows Program?
A: A state-funded scholarship loan program for people earning a master's degree to become school administrators (principals or assistant principals) in NC public schools. Recipients commit to serving as administrators in NC public schools after graduation; the "loan" is forgiven through that service. If they don't serve, they have to repay.

Q: How does this opinion affect students at private NC colleges?
A: It opens the door. Students enrolled in a qualifying master's program at a private NC institution can be eligible to receive a Principal Fellows scholarship loan, provided the Commission has approved that institution's program. The Commission, not the institution's status, decides which programs are approved.

Q: Does the Commission have to approve a private institution's program?
A: No, it has discretion. The opinion says the Commission may approve private institution programs, not that it has to. The Commission can set criteria and decide which programs (public or private) qualify. The statutory grant of authority does not impose a private-institution mandate, but it removes the public-only ceiling.

Q: What is the State Education Assistance Authority's role?
A: SEAA administers the financial aspects of the Program — disbursing scholarship loans, tracking service obligations, processing forgiveness, and pursuing repayment when needed. SEAA's statutory authority (under G.S. § 116-19) expressly contemplates working with both public and private institutions, so the financial side does not create any obstacle to including private programs.

Q: Could the General Assembly limit the Program to public institutions if it wanted to?
A: Yes. The opinion is about the existing statutory framework. The legislature is free to amend G.S. § 116-74.42 to restrict the Program to UNC programs or to specific institutions. The 1999 reading reflects the 1999 statutory text.

Q: How does this compare to other NC scholarship programs?
A: The Teaching Fellows Program (referenced in the opinion) historically funded students at private NC institutions. The North Carolina Need-Based Scholarship and several other state scholarship programs are also designed to support students at both public and private NC institutions. The Principal Fellows reading sits within that broader pattern of mixed public/private support for NC higher education.

Background and statutory framework

The Principal Fellows Program was created in 1993 by Article 5C of Chapter 116 of the General Statutes to address a shortage of qualified school administrators in NC. The program operates on a "scholarship loan" model: a forgivable loan tied to a service commitment. Recipients earn master's degrees in school administration and then serve as administrators in NC public schools for a specified number of years, with the loan forgiven through their service.

The Principal Fellows Commission was set up as a standalone entity, separate from the UNC Board of Governors and the State Board of Education. That structural separation matters because the UNC Board of Governors was directed (G.S. § 116-74.6) to establish nine school administrator programs at constituent UNC institutions. If the Commission were merely a sub-component of UNC, the public-institution-only reading would be more plausible. But the legislature explicitly separated the Commission, suggesting that the Commission was meant to operate across the broader NC higher-education landscape, not just inside UNC.

The 1999 opinion confirms that broader reach. It uses standard statutory-construction tools (ordinary meaning, parallel structures, the absence of restrictive language) to reach a result that is consistent with the legislative purpose: get more qualified school administrators trained and placed in NC public schools, drawing from whatever NC graduate programs are willing and able to deliver the training.

The opinion is also a clean illustration of how AG opinions resolve scope-of-authority questions for state commissions. The Commission could not legally fund private-institution students if the statute disfavored it. The AG's task was to read the statute carefully, look for limiting language (and find none), and apply the construction principle that broad grants of authority are not narrowed by implication when the statutory text supports a broader reading.

Citations

• N.C.G.S. § 116-19 (State Education Assistance Authority's express authorization to administer programs with private institutions)
• N.C.G.S. § 116-74.41(a) (Principal Fellows Commission exercises powers and duties separate from the UNC Board of Governors)
• N.C.G.S. § 116-74.42 (Principal Fellows Program; Commission's program approval authority)
• N.C.G.S. § 116-74.42(c) ("[a]pproved programs are those chosen by the Commission from among school administrator programs within the State")
• N.C.G.S. § 116-74.42(e) (Commission shall develop and administer the Program in cooperation with school administrator programs at institutions approved by the Commission)
• N.C.G.S. § 116-74.6 (1998) (UNC Board of Governors required to establish nine school administrator programs within the UNC constituent institutions)
• N.C.G.S. § 115C-363.22 (Teaching Fellows Commission; parallel scholarship program that exercises authority separately from State Board of Education and DPI)
• Southern Bell Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Clayton, 266 N.C. 687, 147 S.E.2d 195 (1966) (NC Supreme Court; words in statutes are generally given their ordinary meaning)

Source

• Landing page: https://ncdoj.gov/opinions/principal-fellows-commission%ef%bf%bds-authority-to-approve/

Original opinion text

• (a) A Principal Fellows Program shall be administered by the North Carolina Principal Fellows Commission in collaboration with the State Education Assistance Authority. . . .
• (c) . . . Approved programs are those chosen by the Commission from among school administrator programs within the State. . . .
• (e) The Commission shall develop and administer the Principal Fellows Program in cooperation with school administrator programs at institutions approved by the Commission. The Commission shall develop criteria and a process for the approval of campus program sites. . . .

Furthermore, pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 116-19, the State Education Assistance

Karen F. Gerringer
July 2, 1999
Page 2

Authority, which administers the financial aspects of the Program, is expressly authorized to administer programs with private institutions.

Pursuant to G.S. § 116-74.6 (1998), the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina is required to establish nine school administrator programs within the constituent institutions of the University of North Carolina. But G.S. § 116-74.41(a) expressly provides that the Commission is to exercise its powers and duties separate from the Board of Governors. In this respect, the Commission exercises authority similar to the Teaching Fellows Commission (G.S. 115C-363.22) which exercises its authority independent of the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction and has historically awarded scholarship loans to students attending private institutions. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that the General Assembly intended to limit the Commission's authority to approving programs on the campuses of constituent institutions of the University of North Carolina.

Words in statutes are generally given their ordinary meaning. Southern Bell Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Clayton, 266 N.C. 687, 147 S.E.2d 195 (1966). The statutory language quoted above specifically authorizes the Commission to independently administer the Program "at institutions approved by the Commission." G.S. § 116-74.42(e). While the statute does state that the approved programs must be "within the State" (G.S. § 116-74.42(c)), the statute does not restrict the Commission's authority to approving school administrator programs on the campuses of public institutions or prohibit the Commission from approving similar programs on the campuses of private institutions.

Therefore, it is our opinion, that the Commission may approve school administrator programs at private institutions and the Commission may award scholarship loans to qualified persons in such approved private programs.

Very truly yours,

Grayson G. Kelley
Senior Deputy Attorney General

Thomas J. Ziko
Special Deputy Attorney General

cc: Steve Brooks
Betsy Bunting