Is it time to eliminate the State Board of Education?

Empowering the superintendent would give voters the ability to hold leaders accountable on education policy

Rarely has more attention been paid to education policy, here in North Carolina or around the country. It's worth spending some time on education governance, as well.

While policy outlines what and how schools should teach, governance outlines who gets to decide. Arguably, that's just as important — and in our state, it could use some work.

As it stands today, education governance in North Carolina is shared between three particular entities: a State Board of Education appointed by the governor, a Superintendent of Public Instruction elected statewide, and the General Assembly. 

They form a convoluted system that’s slow to change and not very responsive to the people of North Carolina.

We'll get into the nuts and bolts of why this is and why it matters in a minute. But the upshot is this: Under our current system, the people of North Carolina have little say in statewide education management. Voters can weigh in on the types of education laws they’d like to see — but have no real way to …