We have a winner!
Bill Ranson of
Huntersville, NC will be going to Cameron Indoor with a friend.
Congratulations Bill!
GO TO:
Build a World Class System | Policy Overview

[ON THIS PAGE]

Who is Accountable?
Solution: Clear Line of Authority | Solution: New Role for Board of Education
Existing DPI Organization Chart | Proposed DPI Organization Chart

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM

 There has been no shortage of political rhetoric during this gubernatorial campaign maligning the North Carolina Public School System and the individuals who work in it. All of the candidates for governor have talked about the dropout rate, teacher turnover, testing results, and achievement gaps. We have even witnessed one candidate for governor proclaim in a televised debate that “we’re going to hold principals and administrators accountable.” Anyone who has a child in the public school system, or has taken time to talk with a public school teacher or other school personnel, certainly knows the pressures placed on students and school personnel in the name of “accountability” through yearly tests administered to keep us in line with No Child Left Behind and other measures.

 The ultimate requirement for accountability, however, must lie with the political leadership of this state. Shouldn’t our highest elected leader be held accountable for the failures in our public schools if credit is to be claimed for successes? Shouldn’t accountability start at the top? However, under the current system it is unclear who is ultimately responsible for our public schools’ performance and there is little the voters can do to hold anyone responsible. There is no direct line of authority or alignment of purpose and communication. Having spent time in our schools as a parent and volunteer, having been a Justice on our Supreme Court throughout the Leandro and Hoke County litigation, and having spent countless hours over the past year talking with educators in the classroom, school board members and other executives in the educational field, only one conclusion can be reached. In short, the executive leadership and management process for the public schools in North Carolina is dysfunctional and must be significantly restructured.

Who is Accountable for Public Education?:
A Dysfunctional System

The State Board of Education (SBE) is directed under the state constitution to “supervise and administer the free public school system.” Eleven members are appointed by the Governor and serve overlapping 8 year terms, with the Lieutenant Governor and State Treasurer also serving on the board. The system’s “Chief Operating Officer” is the constitutionally elected Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI). There are numerous problems inherent in this structure:

Larger

  •      The state’s CEO (the Governor) has no direct control and authority over the state’s COO for education (SPI).

  •      Chief operational responsibility resides in the SBE, a board with the Lieutenant Governor and State Treasurer plus 11 members appointed by the Governor that meets only once per month.

  •      In reality the SBE does not actually administer the system, but instead the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) does.

  •      However, the SPI who is supposed to run DPI, has no real authority to hire administrative and supervisory DPI personnel without SBE approval and has no function in the workings of the SBE except as secretary to the board.

  •      SBE’s sweeping statutory responsibility for administration and supervision detracts from its ability to focus on best-practices board functions (governance, strategic direction, operational and financial oversight). This makes it practically impossible for the SBE to supervise and administer the public schools and thus the bureaucracy at DPI effectively runs the system.

  •      In the current administration the SBE has even more glaringly by-passed the elected SPI and apparently required the SPI to hire the individual she defeated for the position of SPI as the Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction.

  •      In addition, there are three auxiliary programs that are effectively out of all lines of authority having only an information and advisory relationship with the SBE.

The result is a system of competing authority that masks accountability. So who can voters hold responsible when the public school system does not meet their expectations? Accountability needs to come from the top. The state constitution guarantees each and every student in North Carolina the right to a “sound basic education” and vests the executive power of the state in the Governor. The current system has not delivered and as has been previously noted, is considered to be “dysfunctional” in the eyes of education experts across the state. Under the current system, despite all efforts for reform and improvement, we can not accomplish true reform and improvement in our public schools, until we fundamentally correct this problem. If we are to hold our children, teachers, principals and other officials accountable for the quality of education our children receive, then our political leadership must likewise be accountable.

The Solution: A Clear Line of Authority from the Governor Down

To have clear lines of accountability in our public schools, we must ensure the structure establishes the direct authority of the governor to a subordinate executive that in turn has operational authority over the DPI departments and programs. This would require the following reforms:

  •   Give the Governor the power to appoint the Superintendent of Public Instruction as a cabinet level position by enacting a constitutional amendment to that effect.

  •   Bring all DPI departments, programs and functional units under the direct authority of the Superintendent.

  •   Review the DPI department structure to streamline if possible and eliminate redundancy.

  •   The administrative and supervisory responsibility for our public schools would be removed from the SBE and be placed under the authority of the governor pursuant to his constitutional responsibility to execute the laws of the state.

[Top]

The Solution: A New Role for the State Board of Education

I believe the SBE must play a vital, albeit different, role in our system of public education. The very nature of a board of directors makes it a deliberative body suited to providing strategic direction and detached oversight. Leadership by committee has never been an effective solution. The current structure has the SBE too involved in administration and program details, and yet in reality the SBE is dependent on the DPI bureaucracy for data that would make effective day-to-day operations possible. It makes no sense that the Board spends valuable time considering administrative details like class size exception waivers for individual school districts, when we need long term policies and objectives, for example, a school construction plan and a strategy to reduce the dropout rate. The following reforms would connect the SBE to the people—our primary education stakeholders—and make the Board a strategic asset:

  •     Constitutional amendment to establish board member elections in the 8 education districts. The Governor would retain 3 open appointments.

  •    The purpose of the SBE will be to ensure accountability of the public school system to the people by providing strategic direction and oversight for statewide education planning, programs, finances, and results.

  •     The SBE will advise the Governor, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on the administration of the public school system from the perspective of locally elected representatives of the people. An annual report card on the state of the North Carolina public school system will continue to be submitted to the public.

  • With roles and responsibilities clearly defined, I believe our education system can be responsive to the needs of our local communities and be accountable to the people of North Carolina. If elected Governor, I will take the lead in making the needed constitutional and statutory amendments a reality.

I call on our state legislature and the citizens of this state
to join me in endorsing these changes as the right solution
to realize real change in our
public education system in North Carolina.

 [Top]


Who is Accountable?
Solution: Clear Line of Authority | Solution: New Role for Board of Education
Existing DPI Organization Chart | Proposed DPI Organization Chart

GO TO:
Build a World Class System | Policy Overview