Support Superintendent Atkinson
Submitted by drmassen on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 10:00pm
This November, State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson received a resounding mandate from 2.2 million North Carolina voters to continue her work for four additional years. As prescribed by the North Carolina State Constitution, the function of the superintendent is as follows: “The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be the secretary and chief administrative officer of the State Board of Education.” This description contains no ambiguities.
Unfortunately, the actions of the governor with respect to this office – namely the installation of former Cumberland County Schools Superintendent Bill Harrison as the first individual to whom both the role of chief executive of the Department of Public Instruction and chairman of the State Board of Education – do not reflect an understanding of this explicit passage; in fact, the governor’s actions directly contradict it.
A recent study conducted by Public Policy Polling has shown that 65% of North Carolina voters are opposed to a constitutional amendment to abrogate the position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction. However, when one compares the duties delegated to Mr. Harrison by Governor Perdue, it is obvious that the State Superintendent’s office is effectively negated and left entirely without the power to perform the job for which the voters of North Carolina selected her. This is indefensible.
Recently, Superintendent Atkinson, a meritorious and eminently qualified executive whose campaign I had the privilege of helping to manage in 2008, has stated that she is contemplating filing suit in light of Mr. Harrison’s appointment, and that she “will not abdicate” her “constitutional and statutory responsibilities.” I applaud her for this justified response, and wholeheartedly support her. North Carolinians elected June Atkinson to direct the Department of Public Instruction. They deserve to be treated with respect.
Let's talk about this.
The whole business seems fishy to me.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
Fishy...
at the least. This will be my signature issue for a while. Feel free to email me to discuss more. greggflynn has a great synopsis of the history in an earlier post.
I voted for and respect Governor Perdue, but I believe she is wrong here.
"That my country should be served is the first wish of my heart: I should be doubly happy were I to render it a service." --Thomas Jefferson
Storm brewing
There is expected to be a legal donnybrook over the meaning of the terms "Chief Administrative Officer" and "Chief Executive Officer". One (CAO) is defined in the State Constitution. A reasonable person might assume they mean the same thing. CEO is not defined in the Constitution, Statutes or Rules. Actually 4 million people total voted for a Superintendent. Seems like there's more than a passing interest in the role.
Disclosure: as some people may know, my day job is with DPI. I'm not advocating a position, but, as someone who has more than a passing interest in the issue, I would be remiss if I didn't share a personal observation.
Smackdown: Perdue v. Atkinson
I've already posted on this topic here and here. If anyone needs a primer on how NC's education bureaucracy works, check out the links.
i think that Perdue made a serious power move. If Atkinson wants any serious responsibility at all, she's got to get some more power behind her than the constitution. Becuase as I've laid out, the constitution really doesn't give the Superintendent much power at all.
From Perdue's perspective, I can see the utility of this. She now has her people running the state's education system. She took control and accountability, and she got the GA's blessing to do so. If she wanted to fulfill her education campaign promises, she needed some control to do so. So, I don't think it's fishy... just an old fashioned political power play.
And, I actually like the way that she did it better than how Easley did. Easley pushed Atkinson out of the way by assigning someone she beat in the primary (J.B. Buxton) to take over operations of DPI. I thought that was really underhanded. Atkinson may find the sting of Perdue's strategy to be more severe. Perdue did it with Atkinson standing by her side.
While 65% of North Carolinians currently say that they don't want to abolish the elected Superintendent, I think that a publicity campaign by the governor could turn that around. All you'd have to do is to point out the cost savings and increased accountability gained by eliminating the position. This proposal could win across party lines.
Still, given the current constitutional situation, I think the Governor should give the Superintendent a little more of a role than the "workforce development task force" that she has been asked to lead. June Atkinson is a highly respected educator who has a lot to offer to our state. It's simply a shame to let her gifts go to waste.
Bill Atkinson
The Governor didn't make anything easier when she introduced "Bill Atkinson" at the bill signing that gave Dr. Harrison his new authority.
I think the laws need to be
I think the laws need to be tightened. As an apiring teacher, I feel that if we elect a superintendent they should be able to control the direction our schools go in.