The State Board of Education approved temporary parental leave rules the state’s nearly 200,000 public school employees.

The rules, approved Thursday, provide eight weeks of paid parental leave for full-time employees who give birth after July 1. Four weeks of paid leave will be available to other biological parents, anyone who adopted a child or otherwise became a guardian of a child after July 1. Part-time employees will be prorated amounts of leave.

Paid parental leave is expanding to every state government employee this fiscal year under the state’s new law that also restricts abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy, Senate Bill 20.

Before now, only agencies under the direction of the governor — and others that chose to — offered paid parental leave.

The policy mirrors one already in place for those other employees.

It’s only a temporary policy — intended to provide guidance as soon as possible — until state agencies have more time to come up with permanent rules later this fiscal year.

The temporary rules look like this:

• Leave is only available once during a 12-month period.
• Leave is only available for biological parents of children born on July 1, 2023, or later, and to others who adopted or otherwise became a guardian after July 1, 2023. That’s a change from the first draft of the temporary rule presented in July. Back then, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction officials said lawmakers intended for the benefit to begin only for children born on July 1, 2023,...

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