Control of NC schools for deaf and blind students changes despite objections from Cooper
North Carolina’s three residential schools for deaf and blind students will be under new management after Gov. Roy Cooper allowed the legislation to become law over the weekend without his signature.
The new law shifts direct oversight of the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf in Wilson and the North Carolina School for the Deaf in Morganton from the State Board of Education to new boards of trustees that would be created for each school.
Republican lawmakers who passed the legislation will pick four of the five members of each board. The boards will run the schools and can set new admissions policies.
Cooper, a Democrat, had rejected a similar bill in 2022. In a statement Monday, Cooper echoed many of the same concerns he had raised before about the change.
“This bill unconstitutionally attacks the State Board of Education by putting partisan political appointees of the legislature in charge of our NC schools for the deaf and blind, and I will not sign it,” Cooper said.
“In addition Republican legislators have put forth other proposals that encourage politics to interfere with public school curriculums, and I urge them to stop these efforts that lead to controversial book bans, rewriting history, erasing science and other obstacles to student learning.”
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The legislation had the support of enough Democrats to override a new veto. Last week, state lawmakers overrode Cooper’s veto in order to repeal the requirement for people to get a permit to buy a handgun.
Cooper has allowed other legislation he previously vetoed to become law without his signature, such as a bill increasing penalties for rioting.
Schools can change admissions policies
The new law had been backed by Republican State Superintendent Catherine Truitt and all GOP lawmakers. They said the change will lead to new admissions policies that stop school districts from dumping disruptive students on the schools.
“”HB 11 is an important bill that would provide both certain stability and long-term sustainability to meet the educational needs of our state’s blind and students,” Truitt said in a statement Monday. “Allowing for academic policies and HR to be handled on a local level, providing the opportunity for school districts and parents to apply for student placement, and establishing an admissions eligibility process are just a few ways this legislation puts the interests of our vulnerable students front and center.”
Most Democratic lawmakers had voted against the bill, saying the current governance system works and that the law could lead to the rights of disabled students being violated.
The majority of the members of the State Board of Education were nominated by Cooper. In the new system, the state board will only have general oversight of the schools and will pick one of the members of each local board.
This story was originally published April 3, 2023 at 11:57 AM.
