What to do with elected state superintendent
It's all well and good that Bev Perdue intends to run public education in North Carolina. She's the governor, and responsibility begins and ends in her office.
She's appointed one person, accountable to her, to serve as both chairman of the State Board of Education and CEO of the Department of Public Instruction.
But that leaves unsettled the question of the elected superintendent of public instruction.
June Atkinson holds a constitutional office. The state constitution says: "The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be the secretary and chief administrative officer of the State Board of Education."
That implies that the job carries important duties when in reality it has become a figurehead position, or as Perdue says, an "ambassador."
It appears the post does not need to exist at all.
Making matters worse, the state's public campaign financing system provided Atkinson $200,000 for her re-election effort last year. Why should taxpayers have to pay that amount of money to elect someone to a job that has been rendered virtually powerless by the governor?
A constitutional change is in order.
Comments (9)
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A constitutional change is in order.*Doug
No doubt about that! I notice that you left out the real superintendent of State Education! Judge Howie Manning. I understand that he told the Charlotte School system to stop wearing those baggy rap basketball shorts or he was to trade the whole school system to the Charlotte Bobcats and a future draft choice from France.
Posted on February 2, 2009 12:32 PM
The Bobcats have enough problems.
Posted on February 2, 2009 12:39 PM
Doug, the real question is, "Why is our governor circumventing the State Constitution?"
Clearly, according to the passage you cited above, the elected State Superintendent of Education has the Constitutional authority to be the person in charge of the school system. Rather than uphold the law, the Governor simply decided to circumvent the Constitution and put her own person in charge.
Rather than change the Constitution to suit the Governor's personal whims, perhaps the Governor should, I dunno, try upholding the laws she swore to uphold.
Posted on February 2, 2009 12:50 PM
This didn't originate with Perdue. Easley also put in someone to run the department. What's new is making the state board chairman the CEO as well.
The constitutional language allows leeway, but maybe the superintendent could take some sort of legal action to force the issue into the courts.
Best thing to do is amend the constitution.
Posted on February 2, 2009 1:01 PM
Absolutely right, Doug. If the Governor doesn't like the pesky Constitution, then we should amend it to suit her wishes. It's absurd to expect the Governor to abide by the law of the land, rather than do whatever he or she wants. No governor should have to rule under such ridiculous constraints.
Posted on February 2, 2009 4:04 PM
Can you believe kids are off school today? I've seen some real questionable calls in the past, but this is nuts. 2 hr. delay maybe. Somebody must have still been hungover from Sunday night.
Posted on February 3, 2009 9:17 AM
There was a little more snow and ice in Greensboro this morning than in High Point, but still not much. A delay might have been sufficiently cautious.
Posted on February 3, 2009 10:03 AM
Doug said:
The Bobcats have enough problems
You got that right! They plan to draft a 3'4" Zulu Point Guard this coming year and send Shawn Mayes back to UNC Chapel Hill for futher review on why a diversity draft does not work in a Redneck market..
Posted on February 3, 2009 1:47 PM
Connie, I really must insist that you spell the names of former Tar Heel basketball players correctly, especially those who were Final Four MVPs.
It is Sean May, and as soon as Larry Brown is satisfied that Sean has shaped up sufficiently, Sean will return to the lineup and the Bobcats will drive toward the NBA title.
You may have hit on one good idea, though. Perhaps Larry Brown, the NBA's master of turnarounds, would be a good choice to take over public education in North Carolina.
Posted on February 3, 2009 1:52 PM