HB 706 VETOED
Update: Click here for today's story on this from the dead-tree product.
Gov. Mike Easley has vetoed House Bill 706, which would have made it easier for North Carolina school districts to hire teachers from other states. Click here for prior coverage.
Easley did the veto in public and held a news conference to tell us scrubby press types that he really didn’t like the bill. This is a break from his usual procedure, under which he usually sends vetoes back to the legislature nice and quiet like.
"This bill reduces the North Carolina teaching standards to the lowest in America. It cheats our children out of a quality education and dishonestly classifies unqualified teachers as 'highly qualified,'" Easley wrote in his veto message.
Easley has until Oct. 12 to call the General Assembly back into session to consider whether to over-ride his veto or not.
Legislators and the state board of education have been working on a compromise but those talks fell apart Wednesday night, Easley said.
If nothing changes in the next week or so, expect the honorables to be headed back to town for a day or two.