Been thinkin' about....school boards

There’s little question that our General Assembly can enact whichever law it chooses. Our Assembly can also spend the peoples’ revenue however it wants. However, a constant question for debate in sub-committees, full committees and on the floor is, WHY? What is the intent of an Assembly’s action? There are two issues moving through the 2025 General Assembly that need a hard WHY because both need a WHO.

 The first question is, " WHO should determine when a local school system begins and ends its calendar (academic) year?" There are 115 local school systems (frequently called Local Education Authorities or LEAs) in North Carolina. Each one has a locally  elected school board except Asheville City and Thomasville City which are appointed. Those 113 local school boards comprise one of the largest blocks of elected officials in our state. Those boards represent the will of a  majority of those interested about the schools in that LEA. Those boards do not question the role of our Assembly in setting the number of calendar days but some are now questioning the reasonableness of our Assembly setting the beginning and ending days. Some are even refusing to abide by a previous Assembly’s laws.

 Seems to me that, instead of getting into a face-saving squabble over who can do what to whom, a wise Assembly would give all local boards the opportunity to set their own dates and see how the voters respond in the next local school board election. One of the reasons that the House and Senate rules allow local bills is to allow local entities, with unique situations, to attempt individual solutions in order to evaluate the outcomes. For decades, Assemblies have allowed local experiments to succeed or fail. Often, the good ideas have resulted in state-wide adoption. Why not let locally elected school boards set the beginning and ending dates for their LEAs?

 The other question is, "WHO should determine students’ cell phone use during the academic day?" There are heated arguments from several groups over the if’s, when’s, where’s, why’s and how’s of student cell phone use and every parent who is on a losing side of this issue will have an opportunity to get even with someone at the next election. A wise Assembly would either let local school boards set a policy or let its several members introduce local bills addressing cell phone use (this is already happening in local bills over partisan vs. non-partisan school board elections). Why not encourage local bills on cell phone use and let it play out for a year or so to see if there is a need for a state-wide policy? Both of these questions deserve a study committee that evaluates the results in LEA’s. I suspect the there may be good reasons the calendar and student cell phone access in Hyde County might differ from the ones in Clay County.

 Often, we have learned hard lessons from impetuous "Top down" legislation. The one that first comes to mind is the "Bathroom Bill." If our Assembly had encouraged a local bill from Charlotte or Mecklenburg County, and waited a couple years to evaluate the results, Pat McCrory might have served two terms as governor and we would not have a national black eye!

There are several good reasons for Local Bills-LESS POLITICAL DAMAGE and FEWER POLITICAL CASUALTIES and BETTER STATE-WIDE POLICIES!