Does it matter who's in charge of schools?

Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson has sued the state in hopes of resolving a long-running controversy about who’s in charge of public schools in North Carolina. The N.C. Constitution suggests the elected superintendent -- in this case Atkinson -- is the head of schools. But state legislators have also recognized the chair of the State Board of Education as the chief of schools, namely Bill Harrison, Gov. Bev Perdue's choice to head the board and be chief executive officer of state public schools.

There are those who will shrug and tell you it doesn't matter, because local schools make all the key decisions. And a reader of last week's column about the lawsuit wondered what difference it makes. I asked the estimable John Dornan, head of the Public School Forum of North Carolina, for his thoughts on the issue. They are:

People underestimate the powers of the State Board. As Judge Manning ruled in the Leandro case, NC is essentially a state system.

Among their powers are: 1) Establishing curriculum standards. 2) Creating state tests and setting passing rates, consequences for failure, etc. 3) Establishing certification standards for teachers and administrators (i.e., determining hiring qualifications) 4) Administering federal funds and, in most cases, setting requirements on how funds can be spent 5) Creating evaluation procedures for teachers and administrators Additionally, when the state creates new programs and/or funding streams, the department is in charge of the "details" -- the old adage the "devil is in the details" applies here.

For instance: 1) When the state created the Disadvantaged Students Supplemental Funds (DSSF), the department was left to set policies on how the funds could be used. 2) When the state (i.e., the "state" refers to the General Assembly) created dropout funding, the department was given the responsibility of creating a screening process to award the grants.

Finally, in addition to the powers listed above (and there are far more), the State Board/General Assembly set pay schedules for employees and determine health and retirement benefits. They also establish class size maximums.

This is only a sampling. The list goes on.