North Carolina is keen on getting a piece of the $4 billion the federal government will give states that can show that they are interested in school innovations to improve education.
The grant program"Race to the Top," represents "an incredible opportunity, especially in these economic times," Bill Harrison, chairman of the State Board of Education, said Monday.
About 150 people, including state Department of Public Instruction staff, academics from the universities, representatives from Gov. Beverly Perdue's office, foundations, nonprofits, professional organizations and local school districts have done some work getting the state ready to apply for the money.
With all the interest, the state board will consider changing a policy on teacher evaluations that could kick North Carolina out of the running.
The state board will talk this week about altering or rescinding a policy prohibiting local school districts from using a measure of teacher effectiveness in their evaluations.
According to the grant eligibility requirements, states cannot prohibit linking information on student achievement or student growth to teacher or principals' evaluations.
Another state law, the one capping public charters at 100 schools, could hurt the state's chances.
Federal Education Secretary Arne Duncan has repeatedly said that states with limits on charter schools will be at a "competitive disadvantage" when it comes to getting money.
Last week, Perdue, Harrison, state school Superintendent June Atkinson and the heads of state education associations wrote Duncan objecting to the emphasis on charters as "the major tool for innovation" and highlighting the state's early colleges, the virtual public school and other changes to traditional public schools it has embraced.
Parking problems
Though 400 state employees are on a waiting list to get a parking space in Raleigh, 18 spaces are not assigned to anyone, according to an audit report released last week.
The report, a financial control audit of the Department of Administration, found that the department's parking division was not regularly reviewing and reallocating spaces. The department is supposed to reassign a space that is vacant for two months.
A December 2008 report found that 43 spaces had been vacant for three to 15 months.
The agency noted that since February 2006, 1,100 spaces have been lost because of downtown development. Those losses meant that the department could not accurately reallocate space.
The department says it can now return to its previously scheduled review of parking spaces. Also, it notes that departments are responsible for paying for empty spaces.
Auditor politics
An assistant auditor has sued the state, claiming that his bosses are going after him because he is a Republican.
Darryl Black sued the Office of the State Auditor, saying that after Democratic Auditor Beth Wood was elected, supervisors in her office began pressuring him to take a voluntary layoff.
A spokesman for the Auditor's Office said he could not comment because the lawsuit involved personnel issues.
Before 2007, Black says in the lawsuit, he received good or even outstanding performance reviews.
In 2008, before the most recent election for auditor, Black wrote letters published in The News & Observer. He did not identify himself as a state employee, and the issues he wrote about were not connected to his duties as an auditor.
Black previously had run for the legislature as a Republican and he thought his managers knew of his political leanings.
After the letters were published, Black's supervisor criticized the letters, saying they could diminish his "value to the office."
In 2009, Wood, a Democrat, defeated then-Auditor Les Merritt, a Republican. On Black's next review, his supervisor wrote that he had "grave concerns about the letters, as objectivity is a fundamental element to the independence of all auditors ... Letters appear to have stopped after discussion with supervisor."
Shortly after Black's performance review, a supervisor raised concerns about Black's proficiency. On Aug. 13, Black was offered a voluntary buyout. He was told he was the only one being offered the package and involuntary layoffs could loom over the office, the lawsuit said.
By staff writers Lynn Bonner and Benjamin Niolet
