Atkinson v. State: Upholding the NC constitution and limited gov't.

It's a victory for the people and limited government. That's how I'd describe today's order by Wake County Superior Count Judge Robert Hobgood who said Gov. Perdue cannot appoint a separate executive to run the state's schools apart from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, a consitutional officer of the state and duly elected by the people (See:coverage). The order, which will likely be appealed by the State, raises the question whether Bill Harrison will stay on in his job or whether Harrison's duties will now focus primarily on the State Board of Education. Those answers may take months to figure out and may also be preempted by further actions by the courts. 

I applaud our friends at the North Carolina Institute on Constitutional Law (NCICL), who represented Superintendent Atkinson, on all their good work! The NCICL web site has links to Judge Hobgood's order as well as news releases on the story.  

Comments

[scharrison]

Before you get too carried away, Bob, you might want to digest what your friend at NCICL would have done if he'd been elected Governor. You know, like making June Atkinson's job an appointed position and not "duly elected".

And yes, I fully realize that Judge Orr approached this case from a purely Constitutional angle, and bringing up his previous campaign promises might be "inappropriate" to the context of this discussion. But it's plain to me that Bob Orr (with or without Civitas' blessings) envisioned that he himself (as Governor) would be the sole conduit for "the people" on the subject of public education. Which sounds kind of familiar, if you catch my drift.

Don't worry, I haven't decided to start trolling here. You guys are way too smart for me to try to outthinkify. ;)

[Justin Thibault]

@scharrison - As someone who actually worked on Bob Orr's campaign, I can tell you that he wanted greater accountability for education through changes in the NC Constitution - not unilaterally appointing a czar and ignoring it.

[scharrison]

I get that, Justin. Amending the NC Constitution to bring that about was part of his plan.

But that doesn't change the fact that Bob thought the Governor should have total control (and responsibility) over education: Appoint the Superintendent, have some elected Board of Education members, but make them "advisory" in nature, with no real authority, etc.

While this decision may be a victory for (proper) Constitutional interpretation, it's not (necessarily) an ideological victory of "the People" over a powerful Executive. The General Assembly (through Rand) is now making noises about doing exactly what Judge Orr put forward in his campaign: amending the Constitution so the Governor could appoint the Superintendent (or CEO, whatever).

And I am very interested to see what position Civitas takes on that Amendment, if it actually does find some footing/support in the GA.

[Francis]

I think the entire argument is missing the point. One of the problems is that we continue to centralize education control at ever higher levels. We force small districts to merge in order to "save" money. We centralize control at the state level and the federal government continues to try and leverage the money they put into education into more control.

All that said I would like to be able to say that the buck stops "here" for education in NC. Right now that would be more like the buck stops here and here and here.

I would have no heartburn if the legislature put up a constitutional admendment to get rid of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and move DPI under the governor and make them responsible.

That said, I think it will be a hard sell to get voters (especially the NCAE) to give up voting for an office like this. While they might not know much about it, voters hate to think anything is being taken away from them. That is why Amendment One was written in such a way that voters did not realize they were giving away the right to vote on "Tax Increment Financing" or bonds.