Education Briefings for Candidates for Office

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• Education Briefings for Candidates for Office
• In 2008
• Context of Education

www.ncforum.org
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Education Briefings for General Assembly
CandidatesIntroductory Session

• A Quick Look at Just the Facts
• Who/What Governs Schools in NC?

www.ncforum.org
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Just the Facts. . .
1987-88 2007-08
School Districts 140 115
Employees 114,190 187,463
Students 1.08 million 1.46 million
State K-12 budget 2.29 billion 7.91 billion
Per-Pupil Spending 3,118 4,684
of State Budget 45.5 37.3
Includes only state General Fund contributions
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Just the Facts. . .

• 1 Schools in NC Are Essentially
• State-Run
• (He who pays the piper)
• 65 State Funding
• State Pay Schedules
• State Curriculum
• State Testing
• State Assistance Teams
• (Turn around)

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Just the Facts. . .
2 Only 3 School Systems Have Taxing Authority
(Chatham, Lee, Vance)
3 School Systems Are Few in Number
Hawaii 1 NORTH CAROLINA 115
(ranks 38th highest) US Average 278 Texas
1,035
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Just the Facts. . .
4 Consolidation Size of School
Districts US Average 5,887 students NC
Average 12,442 students 5 NO Collective
Bargaining 6 Growing Diversity NC Hispanic
population 428? in past decade 170 languages
are spoken in NC schools
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Just the Facts. . .
7 Population Growth Swelling (Selected
Areas) North Carolinas school-aged population
6th fastest growing Increased by 279,000
children over the past decade 20,700 MORE
estimated for next year 2000?2008 18
Counties 50 of the Growth 11 Counties Lost
population Anson Bertie Caswell
Edgecombe Halifax Hyde Lenoir
Martin Northampton Warren Washington
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Just the Facts. . .
8 2006-07 Private/Non-public population is
just 10 of enrollment for all schools
  2000-01 2000-01 2006-07 2006-07
Conventional Non-Public 89,789 6.5 94,785 6.0
Home Schools 33,860 2.4 68,707 4.3
Total Non-Public 123,649 8.9 163,492 10.3
Regular Public 1,253,507 90.2 1,394,900 87.9
Charter Schools 14,809 1.1 28,883 1.8
Total Public 1,268,316  91.1 1,423,783 89.7
Grand Total Enrolled in All Schools 1,391,965 1,391,965 1,587,275 1,587,275
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Just the Facts. . .

• 9 Cost to Raise Salaries 1
• Teachers Instructional Support 40.1 m
• ALL School Personnel54.1 m
• ALL state employees100 m
• 10 PersonnelMajor Portion of the Budget
• 90.6benefits salaries
• 4.4transportation
• 4.4supplies
• 0.4school technology
• 0.1staff development

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A Key Question for Our Discussion Today Is . .
. Who Runs Schools In North Carolina? More to
the Point . . . What Impact Can I Make If
Elected?
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School Governance The Office of the
Governor (bully pulpit, budget proposals
veto) State Board of Education General
Assembly (budget recommendations responsible
for (power of purse strings rules and
regulations, curriculum testing)
frequently pass educational policies)
Local Boards of Education (hire
superintendent, propose local education
budgets, determine attendance lines, can initiate
major changes like year-round schooling or magnet
schools or after school programs, determine
resource allocations to schools, set local
personnel policies, establish goals for
system) County Commissioners (power of purse
strings approve/deny school board budget
requests set bond referendums, rarely, but can
weigh in on instructional/policy issues)
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Because NC Is Centralized... New Initiatives
like More at Four or Smart Start Can Result in
Measurable Performance Gains However,
Short Lived or Misguided Initiatives like
Career Ladders or Outcome Based
Education Can Create Frustration and
Erode Morale.
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Because NC Is Centralized... Politically
Popular Educational Initiatives are Often at
Odds With Research on What Works There is a
Real Temptation to Micro Manage the
Schools Local Control versus State Control Is
a Never-Ending Tension
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Leadership on Educational Issues Shifts Between
the Governor, the State Board of Education the
General Assembly

• Smart Start Governor Hunt
• More at Four Governor Easley
• High Schools Governor Easley
• ABCs System State Board of Education
• SB 2 (1st accountability) General Assembly
• Funding for Poor/Small Systems General Assembly
• School Calendar Bill General Assembly
• Dropout Prevention Initiative General Assembly
• Collaborative Project General Assembly

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John Dornanjdornan_at_ncforum.org91
9-781-6833www.ncforum.org