NC GOP lawmakers want to decide who will be new community college system president

T. Keung Hui
·2 min read
1

North Carolina lawmakers could give themselves the power to decide who will be the new president of the 58-campus community college system.

The Senate Education Committee backed legislation on Tuesday that removes the final decision on who is the community college system president from the State Board of Community Colleges. Instead, House Bill 149 would require the state board to submit its choice for president to the Republican-led General Assembly for confirmation or rejection.

The legislation comes as the state board is seeking a replacement for Thomas Stith, who resigned as president in July. Bill Carver is serving as the interim president for the second time in recent years after Stith’s predecessor, Peter Hans, left the job in 2020 to lead the UNC System.

“We’ve had inconsistency in our president of the state community college system for several years now,” said Sen. Tom McInnis, a Republican who represents Moore County. “It’s been a revolving door.

“We have some of the largest industrial corporations in the world that are coming to North Carolina. They’re expecting an educated and prepared workforce. We have to have certainty and continuity in our president of our system and this will help bring that along.”

McInnis proposed the amendment Tuesday into an unrelated bill about virtual charter schools.

Legislative power grab?

Sen. Natasha Marcus, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, complained about the last-minute introduction of the amendment.

“It’s yet another power grab in the General Assembly over education matters that is very disturbing to me,” Marcus said.

The new proposal comes the same week as a bill became law that removes direct oversight of the state’s three residential schools for blind and deaf students from the State Board of Education. The majority of that state board is made up of appointees of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

The new law transfers control of the three schools to newly created local boards of trustees whose members will mainly be picked by lawmakers.

Also this week, Senate Republican leaders filed legislation that would reduce the number of members that the governor can appoint to several state boards and commissions. It would shift more of those appointments on boards such as the N.C. Utilities Commission and the State Board of Transportation to lawmakers.

“These boards and commissions are charged with overseeing areas of state government that have a tremendous impact on our daily lives,” Senate leader Phil Berger said in a statement. “By balancing the membership of these unelected boards, we’re increasing the viewpoints on the boards by diversifying the appointing authorities.”