Head of the Class

Everybody agrees that North Carolina’s educational-governance system is dysfunctional. June Atkinson wants the legislature to give her real power. Some legislators want to do away with her job. Governor Perdue bypassed the whole byzantine system by creating her own schools CEO.

 

You can’t blame Atkinson. She has been elected superintendent of public instruction twice. The first time, she had to beat then-Governor Easley’s candidate and withstand a long dispute after the general election.

 

For all her trouble, she was forced to stand by – “awkwardly,” as one report put it – while Perdue made Bill Harrison education czar.

 

The problem with all the proposed comprehensive solutions is that they take time. And we don’t have the luxury of spending a couple of years fixing school governance. It’s a problem that’s not worth fixing. Just live with it.

 

It would take a constitutional amendment – requiring a vote of the people – to abolish the office. Or to make it appointed. Plus, the voters will never vote to give up their right to vote.

 

And Atkinson is dreaming when she asks the legislature for real power. She has no clout compared to the Governor.

 

Perdue has come up with as good as solution as there can be. She did it in one stroke, so there is no time wasted. She put one person in charge of both the department and the Board of Education. She made herself ultimately accountable for the schools.

 

This problem goes way back. When Jim Hunt was Lieutenant Governor in the early 70s, there were bitter battles between Superintendent Craig Phillips and Dallas Herring, chairman of the state board.

 

Hunt tried to stop the fighting by ousting Herring. But then Hunt’s archenemy, Lt. Governor Jimmy Green, tried to get the legislature to make him chairman. Hunt had to fight that battle.

 

Ultimately, Hunt won. He made himself the education governor, just as Perdue has.

 

Today’s structure is a vestige of colonial distrust of executive powers. But we’re stuck with it. Make the best of it, and move on. Perdue has.

 

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Gary Pearce

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Head of the Class

Everybody agrees that North Carolina’s educational-governance system is dysfunctional. June Atkinson wants the legislature to give her real power. Some legislators want to do away with her job. Governor Perdue bypassed the whole byzantine system by creating her own schools CEO.

 

You can’t blame Atkinson. She has been elected superintendent of public instruction twice. The first time, she had to beat then-Governor Easley’s candidate and withstand a long dispute after the general election.

 

For all her trouble, she was forced to stand by – “awkwardly,” as one report put it – while Perdue made Bill Harrison education czar.

 

The problem with all the proposed comprehensive solutions is that they take time. And we don’t have the luxury of spending a couple of years fixing school governance. It’s a problem that’s not worth fixing. Just live with it.

 

It would take a constitutional amendment – requiring a vote of the people – to abolish the office. Or to make it appointed. Plus, the voters will never vote to give up their right to vote.

 

And Atkinson is dreaming when she asks the legislature for real power. She has no clout compared to the Governor.

 

Perdue has come up with as good as solution as there can be. She did it in one stroke, so there is no time wasted. She put one person in charge of both the department and the Board of Education. She made herself ultimately accountable for the schools.

 

This problem goes way back. When Jim Hunt was Lieutenant Governor in the early 70s, there were bitter battles between Superintendent Craig Phillips and Dallas Herring, chairman of the state board.

 

Hunt tried to stop the fighting by ousting Herring. But then Hunt’s archenemy, Lt. Governor Jimmy Green, tried to get the legislature to make him chairman. Hunt had to fight that battle.

 

Ultimately, Hunt won. He made himself the education governor, just as Perdue has.

 

Today’s structure is a vestige of colonial distrust of executive powers. But we’re stuck with it. Make the best of it, and move on. Perdue has.

 

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Gary Pearce

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