HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93009_0745 (2)C j � 1994 726
Bill Long said he thought the way the whole state government
of the school boards design is ridiculous. He thinks the school
superintendent of education in North Carolina should be appointed
by an elected school board, when just the opposite is the case --the
school board is appointed and the superintendent is elected.
Wherever these programs come from, Bill Long said, there is a long
term situation. You can't judge a program in a year, or two, or
three years. An example is testing. For the first time, they
think they will have a base to judge the tests from year to year.
Before they not only changed the test, but they changed who was
tested from year to year. The tests are measured in different
ways --some are proficiency tests, some are percentile, some are
purely percentages. Regarding the BEP, in his opinion, the dollars
could be better utilized. The state board of education took a
survey on capital needs. Commissioner Boone said he saw that. He
thought it was everybody's wish list. Bill Long said he did not
have the answer for education, the only thing he thinks they can
work with is what they are told they have to work with, the dollars
we are allotted.
Dr. Register said they would like to have more flexibility in
the budgeting, that over -regulation is a problem. Unless the power
structure in Raleigh is changed, it will remain that way.
Commissioner Stewart said she thought Raleigh plays the same
game that the commissioners have played over taxing authority for
the school boards. She said she had doubts that even with changes
that have been made in Raleigh, that there will occur much less
regulation.
Dr. Register said they had tried to use the BEP funding to the
best advantage of the I/S system and have as much flexibility as
possible in using the funding for classroom teachers, etc.
Chairman Haire said she thought block grants to the school
systems are a good method of funding.
Steve Johnson asked if the school boards would like to have
more autonomy in the operation. Bill Long said he thought
everybody would like to take the money and leave the state out of
it. Skip McCall said people in all situations thought those
closest to the problems could best make the decisions. Since the
State funds most of the money, he thinks they will continue to make
the rules. The state has to be accountable for the expenditure of
the money as well. He hopes for reform, but he said he did not
think there would be any sweeping changes from Raleigh as long as
they are providing the funding and are accountable to the taxpayers
for the way they spend the money.
Commissioner Stewart said especially between current expense
and capital. That's not going to happen. They are not going to
release the dollars for capital or to allow local governments to
mix them up. The responsibility for funding for facilities, she
thinks, will remain with the counties.
Skip McCall said he did not think there would be sweeping,
revolutionary changes, there might be some changes giving more
autonomy to school boards. Any of that would be to the school
boards' benefit --it giving more discretion on how the money is
spent, he said. In another few years there will be another
sweeping change and whatever you have gained may be reversed and
that is the politics of the matter.
Commissioner Boone said he did not like to sound like a
pessimist, but to a large extent on the local level, they were just
beating their heads against the wall.
Tip Nicholson made some remarks about the funding mandates
from the State regarding teachers' salary increases, the low wealth
county funding, the energy bills being passed to the counties,