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A proposal to delay testing new teachers for tuberculosis got some push-back from House members on Tuesday. The House Education Committee held off voting on the bill.

The state Department of Health and Human Services sent a memo to local health departments earlier this year telling them that there is a shortage not only of a drug used to treat TB, but of the protein used in the skin test to screen for the lung disease.

DHHS advised health departments to put off routine skin-test screening, including in cases of employee hiring.

That advisory puts a crimp in teacher hiring. New teachers or those returning to the classroom are required by law to get the TB skin test.

Education committee members balked at the bill, which would allow school districts to put off the test requirement. Members questioned an open-ended deferral and whether the shortage was nationwide. The bill got pulled from consideration.

The National Centers for Disease Control reported in April a nationwide shortage of the skin-test product.

Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger on Tuesday unveiled what he called the second round of education reforms aimed at holding schools and teachers more accountable for students’ progress – including ending tenure and grading entire schools.

“The days of accepting a broken education system in North Carolina are over,” Berger said at a news conference flanked by several Republican senators. “We must continue to demand better and positive change for our kids.”

Berger characterized the plan – outlined in Senate Bill 361, filed Tuesday – as one that will improve literacy and graduation rates.

Groups of superintendents, teachers and school principals will be in Raleigh this week to offer legislators advice on new education laws.

House Speaker Thom Tillis, a Mecklenburg Republican, said legislators want to know from people who work in schools every day what can be done to improve results and how the changes legislators are considering will mesh with existing rules and practices.

The confabs are beginning early in the session so "they feel comfortable with first, providing us with ideas but also challenging us when they see legislation moving that they believe may be operationally problematic."

Tillis doesn't expect harmony on all issues. There will be bills on providing tax money to help public school students pay tuition to attend private schools. Tillis expects pushback on that idea, but that superintendents and legislators will have to "agree to disagree" on that.

The public meetings with educators this week will be from 11 a.m. -1 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday, in the House Chamber.

Superintendents are scheduled for Tuesday, local principals of the year for Wednesday, and local teachers of the year for Thursday.

Here’s one response to the Connecticut school–shootings tragedy.

The state’s main pro-gun group, Grass Roots North Carolina, said Tuesday it will push for a law arming teachers.

The organization says as soon as the General Assembly convenes next month it will seek legislation that would allow teachers and others with concealed handgun permits to pack heat in the classroom.

UPDATED: Americans for Prosperity is adding a road tour to its campaign supporting the state budget.

The tour starts in Burlington on Monday and ends in Rockingham on Wednesday. AFP has been running television and radio ads emphasizing GOP talking points. The tour features an N.C. Real Solutions mobile billboard, which publicizes the pro-budget campaign slogan and website.

AFP's efforts also will include a robocall to homes in the areas where its TV ad aired last month. The call features much of the same claims as the TV ad -- see fact checks here and here.

--Lynn Bonner and John Frank

Television ad: “The new legislature balanced the budget, they cut waste, lowered taxes – they even added state funding for 2,000 more teachers.”

Sponsor: Americans for Prosperity Foundation

Claim: The Republican-led legislature added state funding for 2,000 more teachers.

An arm of a conservative political group that spent heavily to help elect the Republican legislative majority is now prepared to spend more money to defend the GOP tenure.

Americans for Prosperity Foundation released a television advertisment Thursday that defends the Republican state budget. (The foundation is the 501c3 division of AFP's political 501c4 arm.) The advertisement particularly seeks to refute the idea that the budget forced the layoffs of teachers and teaching assistants -- which it did, even though the numbers are a subject of debate and the ad's wording requires some parsing. Check Dome later for more details and a fact check.

A legislative education committee won't include performance pay for teachers in its recommendations for short-session laws, said one of its chairmen. 

Performance pay for state employees, including teachers, was one of the big ideas included in the GOP-crafted budget last year. The budget included $121 million to spend in 2012-13 on "labor market and equity salary increases" and performance-based pay plans. 

Setting up a performance pay system is extremely complicated, said Rep. Brian Holloway, a Stokes County Republican and co-chairman of the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee. 

"It's something the General Assembly wants to do," he said. "I highly doubt performance pay will take place in the short session."

The meeting featured ideas from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, with interim Superintendent Hugh Hattabaugh and board Chairwoman Ericka Ellis-Stewart talking about the district's performance pay and teacher evaluation plan, and representatives from a mostly privately-funded effort called Project L.I.F.T. talking about their work with the district's lowest performing schools. 

UPDATED: As House Speaker Thom Tillis attends town hall forums throughout the state, his reaction to widespread teacher layoffs is surprising.

"I can't answer your question," Tillis told a teaching assistant in Wilmington, who appreciated the answer. "I am sorry that happened to you. But we are going to get to the bottom of that."

"Also, if you have specific examples of a lot of teachers and teacher assistants being laid off, let me know, because that means they’re not following our legislative intent," Tillis told another crowd.

It prompts a question: Does the speaker not know that education budget cuts led to widely publicized layoffs that totaled 534 teachers and 1,260 teaching assistants?

Yes, he knows, said Tillis spokesman Jordan Shaw. But Tillis said his budget funded every teacher and teaching assistant – though it included a $400-plus million cut to school districts' discretionary funding.

The state’s teachers organization is flabbergasted by Tillis’ statements. “He is the most talented politician I’ve seen when it comes to deflecting questions about his budget,” said Brian Lewis, a lobbyist for the N.C. Association of Educators.

Attention Triangle teachers:  McDonald's restaurants throughout the Triangle are offering teachers a free breakfast to celebrate the end of the school year.

Teachers can stop in between 6 and 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 15, for a free breakfast sandwich and small coffee or a free Fruit & Maple Oatmeal and small coffee.

All school employees with a valid ID are eligible, by the way.