NC lawmakers considering overhaul of State Board of Education

Currently, the superintendent is a nonvoting member of the board, elected to lead the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The department works directly with the board to report progress and suggest policy changes for board approval.

But on Wednesday, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said he wasn't sure the Senate would take up the bill if it passed the House.

Asked if there was an appetite for the bill in the Senate, Berger said the House can "look at it all they want" but that "I just don't know that that's something that we'll take up, you know, last day or two."

The changes outlined in the bill would reduce the governor’s executive authority, and influence, over education. At the same time, voters would assume that authority, electing both the board members and who would run the board. The voting districts would be aligned with congressional boundaries — boundaries Democratic lawmakers still contend are gerrymandered to favor electing more Republicans.

“All it is going to do is just make partisan officials in the state board,” Rep. Cecil Brockman, D-Guilford, told the House Education Committee Wednesday morning.

Bill sponsor Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, said that’s probably not a bad thing, because it forces people to have policies constituents or other groups want to support. Local school board members fundraise, he said.

“To suggest that education is a nonpartisan issue, I think, is maybe to deceive ourselves,” Blackwell said.

Lawmakers are considering the proposal more than a year after many of them expressed concerns with the State Board of Education’s approval of new social studies standards. DPI staff had written them and proposed them to the board. Some board members thought the standards focused on too many negative parts of history, while other board members felt the standards told history from a more diverse perspective.

Education has become a focus in national politics as conservative movements have decried various aspects of curriculum and books for being too political or containing sexual content.

Republicans on Wednesday argued the constitutional amendment would make the Board of Education accountable to the public directly, while some Democratic lawmakers argued voters already have a say in who is elected governor, including whom a governor might appoint to boards.

The bill passed through the education committee 14-7 on Wednesday morning and through the rules committee on a voice vote in the afternoon.

The bill has been heard only in House. The full House and Senate must still approve it. After that, it’s on the ballot. Governors can’t veto bills for Constitutional amendments. The House was set to take the bill up for a second reading Wednesday but Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, pushed the bill to Thursday.

The State Board of Education sets academic standards and some policies, open and close charter schools, adopt budget and policy recommendations, and maintains general oversight of the public education system. The board often carries out changes required by Legislation.

The General Assembly has the biggest influence on education through budgeting and numerous policy decisions made over the years.

The superintendent doesn’t have the authority voters likely think the superintendent does, Blackwell said. People probably think the superintendent sets more policies. He cited disagreements between the board and former Superintendent Mark Johnson as part of the reason the superintendent position should be a part of the board.

“With divided leadership, it really has proven to keep North Carolina back,” Blackwell said.

House Bill 1173 would expand the State Board of Education to 17 members: the superintendent, lieutenant governor and state treasurer, plus 14 elected people. The lieutenant governor and treasurer are already voting members. Eight district-based appointments and three at-large appoints comprise the rest of the current 13-member board, appointed to eight-year terms.

However, the board has not had 13 members in some time. Lawmakers must approve of every governor appointment and they have not always done so. Cooper nominated a replacement for Olivia Oxendine, whose term expired in May of last year, along with another person would fill an existing vacancy. Lawmakers didn't take those up, so the board remains with only 12 members, and Oxendine continues to serve.

Cooper a few months ago successfully replaced one board member who resigned with time left on his term. For that appointment, Cooper didn't need General Assembly confirmation.

Not all State Board of Education members are registered with a political party, and some were appointed by former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, so official partisanship is relatively even. On the few measures that have divided the current board, such as the social studies standards, the vote has split 7-5, with conservative opposition in the minority.

North Carolina’s Congressional districts have produced a majority of Republicans.

The House approved, without opposition, another change to State Board of Education authority Wednesday. Senate Bill 593, which now heads back to the Senate for approval, places the state schools for deaf and blind students under the purview of five-member boards of trustees and other advisors. Currently, the State Board of Education serves as the de facto governing board for the schools. The five-member board would be comprised of two nominees from the state House, two nominees from the state Senate and one nominee from the governor.