Working in a windowless classroom crammed with 32 students, Asheville teacher Charles Carter became convinced that the state had to improve public education. And he admired the ideal of ordinary citizens serving in North Carolina's part-time legislature.

So eight years ago, he ran as a Democrat for a seat in the state Senate and got elected.

By his third year, working in Raleigh for 11 months, Carter was helping to set the state's schools agenda as chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

Back in Asheville, though, Carter struggled to keep teaching -- only a day and a half a week while the legislature met.

But the legislative work demanded too much time and paid too little to sustain the unmarried public school teacher.

So first Carter quit teaching, for lack of time.

Then he quit legislating, for lack of money.

"It's full-time work with part-time pay," Carter, 38, recalled recently. "There aren't many people my age who can do it."

Carter, who now owns three coffee shops in the Asheville area, is doubly right. Few state legislators are in their 30s. And not many hold down daily jobs while helping to write the state's laws and allocate its taxes.

With almost 9 million people and an annual state budget of $17 billion, North Carolina clings to its tradition of a part-time legislature of 170 citizen-amateurs.

But an increasing number of lawmakers are rich, retired or self-employed in jobs far more flexible than those of typical Tar Heels.

About a third of the state's 170 lawmakers today are retired. Another third are business owners or managers. Almost 40 are lawyers, and 15 sell real estate.

"We're drifting away from the citizen legislature without a conscious decision about what we want to move toward," said Ran Coble, executive director of the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research.

It's noteworthy who does not serve in the legislature:

North Carolina has more than 120,000 store sales clerks and 107,000 retail cashiers -- but none in the General Assembly.

There are no lawmakers who make their living as food preparers, freight haulers, assemblers, office clerks, truck drivers, registered nurses, customer service representatives or waitresses -- the rest of the state's most common jobs.

The makeup of the legislature matters. Because most North Carolinians can't afford to serve, political power is concentrated in the hands of the few with the luxury of spending month after month in Raleigh for part-time pay.

It also makes it harder, some say, for the legislature to solve complex problems such as managing health-care costs, revamping the state's outdated tax system, and guiding the state's economy to new industries and services.

"You're asking them to come to town for a few months, push a voting button 2,500 times and go home," Coble said. "That's not a good way to deal with big long-term issues."

Some believe it also skews the laws governing the state away from the needs of women, children and poor people.

"When we were talking about children without health care, not a member in the chamber had a family without health care," Carter said. "A more diverse membership would change the dynamics, and a broader range of issues would get better expertise."

Not enough hours

With the 2006 legislative session starting today, some lawmakers are beginning their annual rite of juggling their "regular jobs" with their legislative work and their personal lives.

"We have so many meetings of commissions and boards that it's hard to get anything done," said state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, 73, a Carrboro Democrat and lawyer. "I'll get home tonight and spend an hour on mail and e-mail. And then, oh yes, there's my law practice. I've got two trials coming up, and I've somehow got to find the time to get the work done."

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