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 The Rest of the School Governance Story
by Tom Campbell
July 22, 2009
To paraphrase the late Paul Harvey, you know what the news is concerning the school governance lawsuit. Now you are going to hear the rest of the story.
Governor Dan K. Moore knew it. So did Legislators and government insiders. North Carolina’s Constitution was badly in need of revision. Our state had functioned with only two constitutions. The first, drawn in 1776, set out guidelines for this newly declared state. It was greatly modified to give the public more voice in government in 1835 and further modified in 1861, when we reluctantly seceded from the Union.
Congress required a new constitution be approved in 1868, following the Civil War. Subsequent revision attempts had met with failure, even though many amendments were passed through the years. Governor Moore suggested that the North Carolina State Bar form a study commission to consider revision of the 100 year-old document. That commission worked diligently and came forth with changes that resulted in a new North Carolina Constitution in 1971.
One of the thornier issues they faced concerned the governance of public education. A 1944 Amendment stated that the Superintendent was the Administrative Head of the school system. In 1955, Governor Luther Hodges appointed Rose Hill businessman Dallas Herring to the State Board of Education (SBOE). Two years later Herring became chairman, a position he held until 1977. During this period the lines of authority between the board, the Chairman and the Superintendent started blurring.
When the study commission reviewed Article IX of our constitution, dealing with public education, they struggled with the proper roles for the three, especially the constitutionally mandated and elected position of Superintendent. They recommended several proposed amendments, including one changing many Council of State offices from elected to appointed positions, including the Superintendent of Public Instruction. In another section they proposed removing the Superintendent as a voting member of the SBOE, also changing the job description to be Secretary and Chief Administrative Officer of the board, based on the commission’s assumption that the Superintendent would become an appointed position. When the final report was submitted to the Governor and the General Assembly these politicians immediately realized the elimination of elected Council of State positions would be viewed as an attempt to take away the vote of the people and backed away from the proposal. But even as the appointment of the Superintendent was abandoned somehow our leaders went ahead with the recommended job changes, creating confusion rather than clarification over who runs our schools. The 1971 Constitution passed.
Superintendent Bob Etheridge initiated two lawsuits, both subsequently dismissed. In Governor Jim Hunt’s third term, legislation was passed giving the SBOE power to “direct, control and approve” of the actions of the Superintendent, along with other changes that further weakened the office. Governor Easley’s insertion of J.B. Buxton as Deputy Superintendent further eroded the Superintendent’s position, but the matter finally came to a head when Governor Perdue appointed Bill Harrison to be both chair of the SBOE and chief operating officer for schools.
Aided by former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, Superintendent Atkinson prevailed in the courtroom but not in the classroom. Our children have paid the price for the lack of resolution of the school governance issue. Instead of fighting to improve our schools, our leaders have fought each other. Harrison says he’s had enough fighting and will retire from DPI August 31, remaining as SBOE chair.
And now, as Paul Harvey would say, you know the rest of the story. |
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