51% opposed to Governor appointing Superintendent of Public Instruction
Raleigh, N.C. – According to the Civitas Institute’s February poll results, voters seem to agree with the Constitution of North Carolina that the public should remain free to choose future Superintendents of Public Instruction in voting booths across the state despite a growing call for an amendment allowing the Governor the power of appointment for the office.
“The public, by a bare majority, wants to keep voting for the person they think is in charge of public education in North Carolina,” said Francis De Luca, Executive Director of the Civitas Institute.
On January 26th, Governor Bev Perdue (D) appointed Bill Harrison as chairman of the Board of Education, referring to the position as the most important job in N.C.
“If Governor Perdue wants to go down the road of appointing Superintendents of Public Instruction then she needs to put this amendment on the ballot and clear up the lines of authority in our failing public schools. The public appears to be ambivalent about who is in charge at this point.” said De Luca.
Full text of questions:
“Would you support or oppose a constitutional amendment eliminating the elected position of superintendent of public instruction and make the position appointed by the Governor?”
Support- 28%
Oppose- 51%
Not Sure- 21%
The study of 600 registered voters was conducted Feb. 17-19, 2009. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters we interviewed had to have voted in either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2008.
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2008.
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If you would like more information regarding this topic or to schedule an interview with Francis De Luca, please contact Gabe Dellinger at 919.747.8065 or Gabe.Dellinger@nccivitas.org.
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