![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/John-Tedesco.jpg\" "\\"John")
<\/a>[\/media-credit]<\/p>\nThe role of state superintendent, like all Council of State offices, is somewhat mysterious to the general public. That\u2019s a good reason why the campaigns of incumbent June Atkinson and Republican challenger John Tedesco have focused on leadership style, rather than substantive policy issues.<\/p>\n
The North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction is much like a local superintendent. She, in this case, is the top administrator for the Department of Public Instruction, which is the central service and oversight organization for all of North Carolina\u2019s 115 school districts.<\/p>\n
The critical difference is that the state superintendent is elected, while local superintendents are hired by local boards.<\/p>\n
The superintendent takes marching orders from the state Board of Education, a 13-member board of which 11 seats are appointed by the governor. The board, in turn, gets its education policy orders from the general assembly.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say the state board and superintendent don\u2019t have sway. The Board of Education can design and implement any program it sees fit, as long as it falls within the scope of education law set by the general assembly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a collaborative relationship,\u201d said Vanessa Jeter of DPI about the state superintendent and Board of Education.<\/p>\n
[media-credit name=”John Tedesco” align=”alignright” width=”204″]<\/a>[\/media-credit]<\/p>\n
In other words, both entities are bringing ideas to the table for the state board to vote on.<\/p>\n
But at its worst, the state superintendent has been a combative role.<\/p>\n
In 2009, Gov. Beverly Perdue tried to reduce Atkinson\u2019s role to that of an education ambassador, by appointing a K-12 CEO that would take over the superintendent\u2019s duties. Atkinson sued Perdue and won.<\/p>\n
John Tedesco supports that decision. He doesn\u2019t think the state superintendent role should be eliminated, as some of his Republican opponents did in the Republican primary earlier this year.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Tedesco suggested in an interview with the Record, \u201cDPI should be more of a customer service organization and less of an oversight organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
June Atkinson doesn\u2019t dispute this.<\/p>\n
“Mr. Tedesco is behind the times\u2026 our major focus is to be a leadership and service organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
[media-credit name=”June Atkinson” align=”alignright” width=”194″]![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/june-atkinson.jpg\" "\\"june")
<\/a>[\/media-credit]<\/p>\n
Even if it\u2019s hard to differentiate the candidates sometimes, Brian Lewis Political Director of the North Carolina Association of Educators said, \u201cThere are huge substantive differences.\u201d<\/p>\n
NCAE is essentially the teacher\u2019s union and has endorsed Atkinson.<\/p>\n
Lewis pointed particularly to the issue of school choice, which is a cornerstone of this year\u2019s Republican platform.<\/p>\n
The Issues
\nTedesco supports expanding choice for students, which could mean the state issuing vouchers for children to attend private schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s the wrong direction to give vouchers to students to attend private school,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cIf we were overflowing with money it would be inconsequential, but we have very limited resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have a voucher system, public dollars flow into places with no accountability,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The candidates also differ in how they rate the general assembly, the body that ultimately serves as the superintendent\u2019s boss.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give them a mixed review,\u201d said Atkinson, who cited several budget cuts as well as places where legislators added money to the education budget.<\/p>\n
Tedesco on the other hand believes the legislature is \u201cmaking steps in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Record also asked the candidates where they stand on a recent court decision, which mandates that the state pay for all \u201cat-risk\u201d children to have a pre-kindergarten education.<\/p>\n
Atkinson said \u201cabsolutely we need to find the funds. We will reap great dividends of making that investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tedesco also acknowledged the importance of pre-K education in keeping children out of the criminal justice system. However, he said he would need to study the decision more before determining whether the state should pay for all at-risk children\u2019s pre-K education.<\/p>\n
Both candidates support performance pay for teachers. But while Tedesco is a strong supporter, Atkinson approaches the issue with caution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most people aren\u2019t exactly sure what the state superintendent does. For that reason, the candidates are avoiding running on the issues and focusing on their leadership experience instead. The Record takes a look beneath the rhetoric.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24024,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[968],"tags":[875,1009,428],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14526"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24024"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}