The Tussle Over Who Really Runs Our Schools

By Damon Circosta
Published: Mar. 16, 2009

RALEIGH - As North Carolina’s first female governor, the election of Beverly Perdue was something never seen before in the Tar Heel State. But despite the historic nature of her win, Perdue is wrestling with one issue that has been around as long as the office. Namely, how much authority does the governor have?

Students of democracy are intrigued by one of the governor’s latest moves. She has named Bill Harrison of Cumberland County as the chief executive officer of public schools as well as chairman of the State Board of Education. By all accounts Harrison is well qualified to run our school system and has the governor’s complete confidence.

There’s one problem. We already have someone who is supposed to run our public schools -- Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson, who was reelected last fall.

This predicament may seem like a benign tussle inside the halls of government, but it strikes at the very heart of representative democracy. Atkinson’s claim -- and a pretty strong one -- is that she was duly elected to be in charge of the day-to-day operations of our public education system. She campaigned statewide and won handily. To essentially nudge her out of office by giving operational control to someone else sends the message that elections don’t matter.

For her part, the governor is concerned that voters will judge her largely on how she handles education. Perdue campaigned as a former teacher and made several pledges to improve our schools. While she has some influence over school policy through appointments to the State Board of Education, she wants greater authority to improve public education.

Therein lies the problem. Both of these capable public servants want to have the authority to improve our schools. It is perfectly understandable that our governor wants more of a hand in public education, but before we hand her the responsibility, it may help to look at why she didn’t have it in the first place.

The superintendent of public instruction is a member of the Council of State. Created in 1776, the Council of State was designed to keep the governor from having sole control over the executive branch. Wary of the tyranny that a king-like executive could exercise, the governor’s office was designed to be one cog, albeit an important one, in the executive branch.

The rest of the power that resides in our executive branch is to be divided among the Council of State. Our current 10 members of the council exercise control over a broad range of executive functions, from setting insurance rates to overseeing our labor regulations, and until recently it seems, running our public school system. The Council of State has changed over time, but the notion that the executive function of our government is not the sole responsibility of the governor remains.

Of course we all want to see an improvement in our public schools. However, we must make sure that our intention to improve schools doesn’t upset an even more sacred notion -- that popular sovereignty matters and elections mean something. If we no longer wish to elect our superintendent of public instruction, the people can remedy that via a constitutional amendment.

Both Atkinson and Perdue are former schoolteachers. As educators, they know that this struggle over who runs public education has created a teachable moment. Popular elections stand for the idea that those who wish to lead must do so with the consent of the governed.

As voters, we elected a superintendent of public instruction. Until we vote otherwise, the authority to run public instruction must remain with her.