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Rick Glazier is dropping his bid for state superintendent, deciding instead to seek re-election to the state House and avoid a messy Democratic primary with incumbent June Atkinson.

Glazier, a veteran Democratic lawmaker, filed paperwork to run for superintendent earlier this month against Atkinson, who he criticized for not opposing Republican education budget cuts more forcefully.

According to a statement, he changed his mind at the behest of state Democratic Party leaders who encouraged him to remain in the House amid other major party departures, including House Minority Leader Joe Hackney.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson got some pats on the back for her plan to keep all three state residential schools open from the same legislators who told her department to pick one to close. 

In their budget, legislators told the state Department of Public Instruction to come up with a plan to close one of the three residential schools for disabled children and consolidate services to save about $5 million. 

The state runs two schools for deaf students, one in Wilson and one in Morganton, and the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh. 

As DPI considered its options, groups of legislators wrote letters and spoke at public hearings asking that the school in their region be spared. 

Atkinson came up with a plan, which she made public late last year and presented to legislators today, to lease space at the schools while leaving all three open. The Governor Morehead School would be a satellite of the Wilson school, but continue to enroll students. 

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata has been talking to DPI about using space on the Morehead campus. Tata said today that he'd like to put 300 students there in the coming school year. 

"We need space," Tata said. "We have capacity issues throughout Wake County."

State Sen. Richard Stevens, a Cary Republican and a chief budget writer, congratulated Atkinson for her work. 

"This is not an easy assignment," he said. "We saw at budget time a program that had been reduced in numbers significantly over the years and a program that had increased in cost to a point where it was in excess of $100,000 per student. At the same time, a number of children needing very specialized services."

Stevens thanked Atkinson for "coming back with a solution that I believe we can all work towards now...I think we're headed in the right direction." 

State Rep. Rick Glazier says he's still running for state Superintendent of Public Instruction, despite rumors that he was reconsidering re-election to the House.

The rumors were sparked after state Rep. Diane Parfitt, a fellow Democrat double-bunked with Glazier in redistricting, announced she was not running.

Glazier says he's making a formal annoucement Thursday in Fayetteville, and wasn't sure how the rumors got started.

"I have never changed my plans or mind," he said in an e-mail.

He will challenge incumbent Democrat June Atkinson in a primary.

Wake School Board member John Tedesco, a Republican, said today that he'll announce Thursday, Jan. 26 whether he's running for state Superintendent of Public Instruction.

In his press release, Tedesco sounds a lot like a candiudate when he writes about how the state education system and Democrats are failing students.

"Over the last decade our educational outcomes continued to fall behind international standards and, at best, but various selected measures, have climbed only to the middle of the pack among states," he wrote.

"In 2008, our newly elected Governor claimed to be the next "Education Governor." During her first two years in office, with a Democrat controlled General Assembly by her side, we lost more teacher jobs in this state than we had in the previous quarter century."

Democratic incumbent June Atkinson and Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat, announced today they are running.

Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat, will challenge incumbent state Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson in a primary.

Atkinson, a Democrat in her second term, announced today that she is seeking re-election.

Glazier said he would do a better job than Atkinson at standing up to Republicans and would use the office as a bully pulpit to talk about the value of public education. Losing public education means losing "a real foundation of democracy," he said.

With data showing that 66 percent of students are not proficient in reading and the state is 49th in per pupil spending, "it's time to change what we're doing."

Initially, Glazier said he would run if Atkinson didn't. Here's his explanation of why he's in:

Glazier said he talked to Atkinson in October, and she told him she would make a decision by Thanksgiving.  At that time, Glazier said, he was being asked to consider running for the office, and he agreed to defer if she made a decision by then.

Thanksgiving came and went and there was no Atkinson decision, Glazier said. The first time he heard for sure that she had decided to run was last week at Hunt Institute retreat for policy makers. That late notice didn't give anyone else who wanted to launch a serious campaign time to start work, he said.

"There comes a point at which you have to get prepared, you have to make a decision to move forward. You have to decide to go," he said.

Primary challenges against incumbents are somewhat rare. Glazier said he was looking forward to making his case.

"Being an incumbent does not entitle you in perpetuity to a job," he said.

June Atkinson announced this morning that she will run again for the State Superintendent of Public Schools.

Atkinson, who has held the position since 2005, said she chose to run for re-election because "I'd hate to leave in the third quarter when we're winning."

With candidate filing a mere six weeks away, it's worth noting something we missed in late December: the heated rhetoric from two Democratic state lawmakers in the nascent race for state superintendent.

It began with Fayetteville Rep. Rick Glazier's formal entry into the campaign -- even though sitting Democratic superintendent June Atkinson has yet to announce her re-election plans. State Rep. Tricia Cotham, a Charlotte area Democrat, who is also eyeing the post, sent a missive to her supporters titled "Let's Stand Together."

"This is just the latest of many attempts by a small group of education elites to undermine June Atkinson's efforts," Cotham said, without explaining what she meant by "education elites." "As June was preparing for re-election in 2008, this same legislator - who now wants your vote for superintendent - sponsored legislation to take away the voters' right to elect the superintendent and to eliminate the superintendent's historic role as an executive officer of our state."

Glazier's campaign manager Adam Scott suggested Cotham is guilty of negative campaigning -- the opposite from her email title. "Representative Cotham’s letter clearly indicates that, if she decides to run for Superintendent, she intends to run a negative campaign. Democrats should be united in fighting Republican attacks against our teachers and our schools-- not each other," he said in statement.

Now political observers are just waiting to hear from Atkinson, so the gloves can really come off.

State superintendent June Atkinson fired back at a liberal advocacy group that questioned her commitment to fight school budget cuts.

In an email to the executive director, Gerrick Brenner, Atkinson rejects the premise, saying she has been "very vocal" about the $400 million cut to education implemented by the Republican leaders in the General Assembly.

She also suggests the group stop whining. "At the same time, we don’t have the luxury of spending all of our time talking about what could have been," she wrote. "We must roll up our sleeves and decide to move forward and to improve opportunities for girls and boys in North Carolina."

The full statement is below.

Progress North Carolina, a liberal advocacy group, is taking aim at Democratic State Superintendent June Atkinson for her silence on the issue of school budget cuts.

For months, the group focused on Republican state lawmakers -- particularly House Speaker Thom Tillis -- for slashing education funding by $400 million, cuts that led to teacher layoffs.

But today, as Atkinson appeared before a legislative committee, Progress NC sent a statement asking her for action. "As state superintendent, it’s her job to be the state’s biggest advocate for public schools," said Gerrick Brenner, the group's executive director. "Right now, June Atkinson is failing teachers and students, by not standing up to lawmakers who continue to hide behind false rhetoric after they slashed school budgets."

The statement comes as Atkinson weighs whether to seek another term as superintendent. Two Democratic state lawmakers, Rick Glazier and Tricia Cotham, are making strong moves for the post. 

Glazier issued a statement Tuesday about to a study concerning student achievement for those in middle grades. And Cotham's twitter feed is so education and campaign focused she sounds like a declared candidate as she visits schools.

House Speaker Thom Tillis is thankful for his traveling companions, the State Capitol Police, who keep him company as he goes from town hall to town hall.

Rep. Joe Hackney, Orange County Democrat and House minority leader, is thankful for good acoustics in the House chamber, allowing him to be heard from the back of the room.

State historians are thankful for Sen. Neal Hunt, who spearheaded a pardon for the impeached former Gov. William Holden. How many other governors dead for more than a century were at the center of public debate and intrigue this year?

Legislators are thankful for campaign donors, who provide money not only for campaign ads and staff, but new suits, apartment rent and home appliances.

June Atkinson, state Superintendent of Public Instruction, is thankful for the new math wherein 3 - 1 = 3. Legislators told Atkinson's department, the state Department of Public Instruction, to close one of three residential schools for blind and deaf students. Her plan to "close" the Governor Morehead School in Raleigh would let it keep its students and its name.

Gov. Bev Perdue is thankful for the state troopers who pushed her stuck SUV out of a ditch during her tour of Hurricane Irene damage.

Perdue is thankful also for video cameras and audio recorders so she can remember all the great ideas she suggests when talking in public, such as suspending congressional elections.

Perdue is thankful for former U.S. Sen. John Edwards because he hogs most of the limelight surrounding questionable campaign finances.

Likely GOP gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory is thankful for his dog, whatever its name is.

The capital press corps is thankful for live mics in legislative committee rooms, especially when Republicans are talking strategy.

Bunk bed makers might be thankful for Republican lawmakers who have promoted their product by double-bunking Democratic lawmakers in the redistricting process.

Republican lawmakers are thankful for high-powered computer software that can slice and dice voters and precincts, except when the computer-drawn maps leave out some voters.

Rep. Bill Faison is thankful for every microphone he finds as he travels the state and talks about a plan to raise taxes that is destined to fail in the legislature.

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is thankful for rival Rick Perry's dislike of North Carolina barbecue because it's surely worth a 10-point advantage in this state.

Sen. Don East is thankful for the good-humored state Highway Patrol, which didn't blink at Sen. Stan Bingham's jolly account of a 145 mph joy ride with East at the wheel.

Democratic lawmakers are thankful to have a break from their new role as powerless underdogs for the first time in 140 years - at least until it starts again next week.

The American Legislative Exchange Council - criticized as a secretive incubator for laws promoting corporate interests - is thankful for North Carolina's Republican state lawmakers. Nearly three dozen of them attended the group's conference in New Orleans this past summer.

Attorneys specializing in medical malpractice, redistricting, abortion rights, environmental regulations, same-sex marriage and voting rights give thanks for the Omnibus Full Employment for Lawyers Act - the name we just made up for the lawsuit-inducing agenda that legislators passed this year.

Staff writers Lynn Bonner, John Frank and Craig Jarvis