Appointed school chief? Yes, but....

Editorial by Charlotte Observer, June 15, 2014.

This editorial board has said before that the job of state schools superintendent should be appointed, not elected. The elected post has only nominal authority. Legislators and the governor make education policy by what they choose to emphasize and fund. That’s true even when the post is held by someone in the same party as the governor and lawmakers controlling the legislature.

So, Republican state Sen. Jerry Tillman’s call last week for a vote of citizens on a constitutional amendment to make the schools superintendent an appointed job makes sense to us.

Yes, the notion gives us pause, given how this legislature has treated education by slashing funding and belittling teachers. The school superintendent’s job is still more bully pulpit than anything else – a role current superintendent June Atkinson has carried off admirably.

Of even more concern, Tillman’s bill calls for abolishing the State Board of Education. That idea needs far more study than the two weeks left in the session would allow.

Regardless, we don’t think such a bill should move forward in the short session of the legislature – a session with the specific purpose of adjusting the budget and tying up loose ends from the previous session.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/06/15/4975938/appointed-school-chief-yes-but.html#.U57b0RbO8ZY