Fayetteville, N.C. — North Carolina on Thursday joined a group of 10 states that have a uniform standard for educating students from military families.

In a ceremony at E.E. Miller Elementary School, Gov. Mike Easley signed Senate Bill 1541 into law, allowing the state to become part of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The compact was created by the Council of State Governments and the Department of Defense to make it easier for students to move between districts and states.

The Defense Department said 1.5 million students in military families attend schools outside the military installations to which their parents are assigned. About 13,000 Fayetteville public school students comes from military families.

Military families are three times more likely to move than a civilian family, officials said.

The interstate compact creates uniform standards for transferring school records, course placement, testing and graduation requirements.

Another 10 states have legislation pending that would add them to the compact.