State Board of Education Chairman Bill Harrison says the education agency didn't mean to make it hard for former students who failed competency tests to get diplomas or for schools to give them out.
The state Department of Public Instruction told school districts to find former students, going as far back as 1981, and tell them they can get diplomas if they met credit requirements but didn't pass state competency tests.
It's likely that most of those students would have received certificates in place of diplomas, and Harrison said DPI meant only for students to present certificates and have the school or local district swap them for diplomas.
Students don't need to find their old transcripts, Harrison said.
This despite instructions in a sample letter to students posted on the state public schools' Web site that say:
"You will need a copy of your high school transcript that shows that you earned credit in all courses required for graduation at the time that your diploma was withheld."
Harrison said he hadn't seen the sample letter, and if it was there, it would come off the Web site.
"I don't know how many students would have kept their transcripts after 20 years," he said. "I didn't."
Cunningham takes a pass
Cal Cunningham, a Lexington Democrat who had been exploring a U.S. Senate bid for months, said late Monday that he will not run.
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Durham lawyer Kenneth Lewis have already announced they are in the Democratic primary for a shot at running against U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican.
U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, has said recently that he will announce soon whether he will jump into the race.
In a post sent to a Facebook group organized to help build support for a potential campaign, a message from Cunningham, a lawyer and former member of the N.C. Senate, said it would be the wrong race at the wrong time for his family.
Perdue out and about
In the last couple weeks, Gov. Bev Perdue has been hitting the ribbon cuttings and rubber chicken circuit.
Just last week there was an N.C. Bankers Association luncheon, a visit to the N.C. Rural Partners Forum, a speech at a women's conference and a groundbreaking ceremony at the Duke University cancer center. On Monday, there was a big road-building announcement in Charlotte. On Tuesday, she promoted her JobsNow initiative at Nash Community College.
All the public events follow a shake up with her communications director. Could this be the start of a campaign to reverse Perdue's flagging popularity?
Batchelor to seek House seat
Todd Batchelor, a former finance director for the N.C. RepublicanParty, plans to run for state House District 41 which until recently was held by Democrat Ty Harrell.
Batchelor will challenge Democrat Chris Heagerty, who was recently named to the House seat after Harrell's resignation.
The Wake County seat is regarded as a swing seat; it had been held for years by Republican Russell Capps before Harrell's victory in 2006.
Batchelor was the 2004 Republican nominee for Congress against Democratic Rep. David Price. He is legislative chief of staff for Republican state Rep. David Lewis of Dunn.
Pension fund gets boost
North Carolina's state pension fund was buoyed in the third quarter by the stock market's slight rebound, State Treasurer Janet Cowell announced Monday.
Third quarter returns were 10.44percent, and the fund's returns for the year are 12.26 percent.
The fund's value rose from $60.2billion at the end of June to $65.8 billion at the end of September.
Cowell cautioned that the stock market remains volatile and the fund is still well below its 2007 peak of $77billion, meaning that the legislature will need to appropriate more money to offset last year's losses.
