Ask Anything: 10 questions with N.C. Public Schools CEO Bill Harrison
N.C. Public Schools CEO Bill Harrison answers your questions about his new job, pay cuts, job losses and much more.
Posted — UpdatedIn my role as CEO, I actually serve in a dual capacity – as chairman of the State Board of Education and as CEO of the Department of Public Instruction. The positions of Deputy State Superintendent and of Executive Director of the State Board of Education have been replaced by my position as CEO and Board Chairman. Gov. Perdue felt that this organizational structure would provide more accountability for education decisions.
My salary is $265,000, which is on par with the salaries earned by local school superintendents, including my former position in Cumberland County. I took the same .5 percent pay cut that every other state employee took.
I was asked by Gov. Perdue to lead the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction, and that is where my focus remains. The work of the Board and Department continues to move forward. The most difficult morale issue for state education leaders and Department employees is the budget situation – which, of course is the same difficulty being faced by many workers in both the public and private sectors today.
Legislation describes specific uses for funds generated for the NC State Education Lottery. The NC Education Lottery provides about $100 million to support current class sizes for K-3 at 1 teacher: 18 students and about $85 million to support the More at Four program for academically at-risk preschoolers. Lottery funds also support local capital projects and scholarships as set out in the original lottery law. All together, lottery funds make up about 2.24 percent of the public schools’ operating budget. Unfortunately, the proceeds are not large enough to be the answer to our budget troubles.
Our funding is dependent on targets established by the Governor and General Assembly, the number of students attending our schools, and priorities of the State Board of Education and elected officials. We will work to make sure that we maximize the use of funds we receive and to assure that resources are targeted to teaching and learning – the activities at the heart of public education.
If local school employees are driving county vehicles home, that is a local policy issue of your school board and central office staff. State employees have not been allowed any travel except in very exceptional circumstances during the recent spending freeze.
I share your concern about high suspension rates. At the state level, we have several initiatives underway to assist with this. One of the more visible programs is Positive Behavior Support which shows promise for decreasing student suspensions and is currently in place in 770 schools. One hundred and four of the state’s 115 school districts have at least one school participating. Some of these schools are new to the program, and others have had it in place for several years.
Some school districts use cameras in selected school locations and on some school buses. With camera systems, there are installation costs and also monitoring costs that have to be considered, as well as philosophical debates regarding having camera monitors all over the school property.
We share your concern about priorities. As a result, we have cancelled all face-to-face large group meetings or conferences when possible and have replaced those with Web-based meetings and other “virtual” meetings. There are some exceptions, however. In some cases of large conferences, the cancellation costs for breaking the hotel and convention center contracts is larger than the cost of holding the event. In those cases, we are holding these events and encouraging school districts to be thoughtful about who they send to these meetings and about the source of funds for participating in these events.
This is a great suggestion. There is no substitute for seeing today’s classrooms and schools firsthand. We do encourage Board members to visit schools whenever they reasonably can do so. At this time, it is not a formal requirement but we will consider ways to make sure education staff and Board members regularly spend time in schools and classrooms. Many of us at NCDPI have recently been classroom teachers, school principals or central office leaders in local school districts and have recent first-hand experiences to help guide our decisions.
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