If it were up to Walter Dalton and Pat McCrory, they’d have a little less company on the ballot in North Carolina this year, Stateline reports. In particular, they wouldn’t be sharing space with candidates for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Dalton and McCrory are opposing gubernatorial nominees, but they agree on one thing: The governor ought to be able to appoint the state’s top education official. It doesn’t appear that wish will be granted anytime soon — making the office appointive would require a constitutional amendment. But the proper role of the schools chief is central to the campaign of Democrat June Atkinson, who currently holds the position in North Carolina, and to some of her counterparts across the country. Some 13 states currently make their top education official subject to a popular vote. And in virtually every one of those states, there are critics who ask why such an office should be so deeply involved in politics…
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Schools chiefs see a path to proposing their own accountability systems
Some state education chiefs say that if Congress does not overhaul No Child Left Behind, the main federal law governing public education, by the fall, they may be allowed to propose their own accountability systems as an alternative, reports the New York Times. These education chiefs said this week that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his aides have signaled that they may grant a waiver on a crucial provision in the law, a requirement that all children be proficient in English and math by 2014, a goal widely seen as unrealistic…
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