[8] Chad holds a Master of Arts in Christian Ethics from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, and a Bachelor of Science with a concentration in public management from Appalachian State University.

In his first run for elective office, Barefoot won a three-way Republican primary race over Rep. Glen Bradley and Michael Shriver in May 2012.

[9] He faced incumbent Sen. Doug Berger in the general election in November 2012, and won with approximately 56 percent of the vote.

[12] Additionally, state funding for the apprenticeship program has increased by more than $500,000 under Barefoot's chairmanship of the Senate's Education Appropriations Committee.

[17] This program is designed to place academic and career advisers from community colleges into public high schools throughout North Carolina.

[18] Early Childhood Education Initiative Senate Bill 740, which was adopted as a part of the 2016-17 budget[19] and introduced by Barefoot, directs the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and any other interested agencies to work together to develop and implement a statewide vision for early childhood education, specifically focusing on the transition from NC Pre-K to kindergarten.

Prior to this new policy, there were no uniform guidelines on how school systems should conduct the transition of students from Pre-K to kindergarten and communications between agencies were not sufficient to alleviate the problems they were experiencing.

As a result, the subcommittee on Statewide Early Education and Family Support Programs of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services recommended that the state look at options to strengthen collaboration between agencies.

Barefoot convened a meeting with stakeholders, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Public Instruction, to develop a policy that would strengthen the level of collaboration between the early childhood education programs and the K-12 system and provide uniformity to the transition process for everyone involved.

Section 4.3 of House Bill 765[21] allows North Carolina to exercise its right to opt out of enforcing the EPA's rules by prohibiting the state Environmental Management Commission and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (now the Department of Environmental Quality) from implementing or enforcing these regulations against citizens who use wood-burning stoves to heat their residence or business.

[24] School Choice In July 2013, Barefoot was instrumental in the North Carolina General Assembly passing the North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship Act[25] to give students from low-income households the chance to attend private schools through scholarships of up to $4,200 per year.

In 2015, the General Assembly paid off the state's $2.75 billion debt to the federal government for first-time unemployment claims.