School Law Bulletin #1998/06

The State Board of Education (hereinafter the State Board or the board) is the only state agency that derives its powers directly from the North Carolina Constitution. It also receives numerous directives from the General Assembly, including notably in the past few years, legislation authorizing the School-Based Management and Accountability Program (known more generally as the ABCs Plan) and the Excellent Schools Act. With the State Board at the center of key educational reform efforts for North Carolina’s public schools, now is an opportune time to examine the board’s constitutional powers and duties and the processes by which it issues binding decisions for local school administrative units. That is what this article attempts to do. (Please see the sidebar article, “Who Is the State Board?”, below.