In July 2023, the N.C. General Assembly passed legislation transitioning oversight of North Carolina’s three specialty schools — the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf, the North Carolina School for the Deaf, and the Governor Morehead School for the Blind (GMS) — from the Department of Public Instruction to a Board of Trustees. As part of this transition, NC Collaboratory was tasked with assessing the needs, effectiveness, and organizational functioning of all three schools.