Democrat June Atkinson won another term as N.C. superintendent, defeating Republican John Tedesco by a 54-to-46 percent margin, according to final but unofficial returns.
Tedesco is a member of the Wake County school board, which is in turmoil over leadership and student assignment. The News & Observer reports that Atkinson had used that against him, saying he was surrounded by "a cloud of chaos." (I can't help but grin: When I started the education beat in 2002, many in Raleigh saw Charlotte as the land of educational upheaval and lunacy.)
But choosing the nominal head of public schools in North Carolina may be the least significant education decision voters made Tuesday. Consider:
The re-election of President Obama means the reforms driven by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the Race to the Top program will continue. Those efforts have had significant influence on testing, performance pay, school closings and other strategies in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and statewide. Individual districts, including CMS and Union County, are preparing additional plans to compete for more federal money.
Republican Pat McCrory's ascent to the governor's mansion teams him with a GOP-dominated legislature that's just starting to flex its muscle on public education. Charter schools are proliferating in the Charlotte region since that body lifted the 100-school limit, and the effects of legislative mandates to end "social promotion" and give schools letter grades will start taking shape this year. As Charlotte mayor, McCrory didn't play a big role in education, but he'll bring a deep knowledge of local issues and personalities to the halls of Raleigh.
And the Democratic sweep in the Mecklenburg County commissioners' election will likely have implications when CMS brings its budget requests in coming years.
Meanwhile, the "nonpartisan" CMS board sat out this election cycle. It's hard to believe it has only been a year since Ericka Ellis-Stewart and Mary McCray won their first elected offices, then took the chairmanship and vice chairmanship of the school board. The leadership transition brought some rough spots for the board, but the nine members have been spending a lot of time in team-building exercises designed to help them recognize and value each other's strengths. In the short run, we may see how that plays out when the annual election of the chair and vice chair comes up in early December. They'll also be engaging with the other elected bodies as they prepare a legislative request list and start talking about reviving recession-stalled construction and renovation plans.
One possibility: A school bond vote in 2013, the first since 2007.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
What's it all mean for education?
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16 comments:
I'm so happy the school board is engaged in team-building exercises to learn to value each other's unique differences and strengths. Do let us know how they score on the standardized Multi-Cultural Understanding and Diversity test administered by CMS' Urban Education Academy.
Sadly, the only game democrat county commissioners know is more tax money, more tax money and everything will be okay.
What's it all mean? In Charlotte, that's the $55 million dollar question.
DId anyone know that Garinger HS was designed by a famous architect? The building was featured in National Geographic in 1962 and was considered a state-of-the art example of modern architecture which also represented the bright and optimistic future of public education in America.
Alicia Durand
(I can't help but grin: When I started the education beat in 2002, many in Raleigh saw Charlotte as the land of educational upheaval and lunacy.)
And many in Charlotte saw Raleigh as nirvana, since they continued to bus (purely for socio-economic reasons, you know).
And meanwhile, CMS black students passed them on the stae EOG/EOC tests and our white students started down the slope.
Bill,
This is how you close the achievement gap.
The first thing you do to play golf is tee up the ball so you can hit it.
Last night, the tee was pushed into the ground and a big, shiney new ball was placed on top of it like a scoop of ice cream waiting to be licked....
Here is the marking on the ball:
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
CMS bonds in 2013?
After a long recession-driven slump in school construction, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials laid out a $1.86 billion 10-year plan for school construction and renovation Tuesday.
Read more here: http://obsyourschools.blogspot.com/2012/01/cms-bonds-in-2013.html#storylink=cpy
Wiley, yes sadly most of the folks voting yes for these bonds will not be the ones paying them back.
Bill,
I'm ready for the fiscal cliff...
At some point, spending has to be cut. Using the lame argument of "taxing the rich" isn't going to fix the problem(s).
We may as well bite the bullet now and let the cuts happen.
Stocks plunge after Obama's re-election win
Investors fear failure to fix the fiscal cliff will lead to recession. European stocks slump after ECB President Draghi says even Germany is weakening. Apple has fallen 20% since September.Bank and energy stocks fall. Oil and gold slip.
sad thing as Mccrory never had kids or any knowledge of CMS. Dalton missed a huge opp. on that front. He will provide nothing while in Raleigh on the education front as he has no knowledge of the working failed system that is CMS.
He has a better idea of how to manage a BUDGET.
Not one member of the BOE could manage a classroom of 40 students much less a BILLION DOLLAR budget.
I blame the voters of Charlotte who send inept canidates to office to waste our precious resources. God help our education system that is CMeS.
Yeah Pat McMayor did a great job with our budget. Why just look at the failed arena, light rail, schools and the whole that is the Nascar Hall of shame. Need I say more? CHeck your tax bill if your a property owner in the County. Check your sales receipt next time you buy something in the city its got McMayor written all over it.
2:51, I think I'd rather have someone not "corrupted" by CMS making larger decisions about public education in NC. Additionally, as his role with the Republican Mayors Group, he has done more elbow rubbing with more successful public education mayors and governors.
Thank you ericka.
A lot of selective editing and removal going on in these blog comments.
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