Rep. Cervania files bill in North Carolina House on school emergency preparedness education

A new bill filed by State Rep. Maria Cervania in the North Carolina House seeks to establish emergency preparedness education standards across all public school grade levels, according to the North Carolina State House.

The bill, filed as HB 968 on April 10 during the 2025 regular session, was formally listed with the short title: ‘Youth CERT Preparedness K-12 Training.’

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, this bill mandates that public schools in North Carolina incorporate emergency preparedness education from kindergarten through high school, starting in the 2025-26 school year. The State Board of Education is tasked with developing standards that differentiate based on school level. For elementary schools, instruction will commence by grade three, covering topics such as disaster education and school emergency response plans. Middle school instruction will update these topics and include projects on past disasters, mass casualty event responses, and electrical hazard safety. High school instruction will also update prior content and integrate the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Basic Training Manual. Local school units have the discretion to determine the appropriate courses for delivering this instruction.

Of the three sponsors of this bill, Charles W. Miller proposed the most bills (39) during the 2025 regular session.

Bills in North Carolina follow a multi-step process before becoming law. A lawmaker starts by filing a bill, which is assigned to a committee for review. The bill must be read three times in each chamber. If one chamber changes the bill after the other passes it, both must agree on the final version. Once both chambers approve the same bill, it goes to the governor, who has 10 days (or 30 if the legislature is not in session) to sign, veto, or let it become law without a signature.

You can read more about the bills and other measures here.

Cervania graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a BA.

Cervania, a Democrat, was elected to the North Carolina State House in 2023 to represent the state’s 41st House district, replacing previous state representative Gale Adcock.