The state Attorney General's office won't appeal a Superior Court judge's decision that State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson has the legal authority to run the state education agency.

Gov. Beverly Perdue had hired Bill Harrison to run the state Department of Public Instruction, going around Atkinson, who had twice won statewide elections for state superintendent. 

Atkinson, a Democrat, hired former state Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, a Republican who runs the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, to fight the decision in court.  She sued Perdue and the State Board of Education, and won. 

The Attorney General's office said immediately after the Superior Court ruling in July that it would appeal. But the office decided last month not to, said spokeswoman Noelle Talley. 

Harrison said he told Perdue soon after the decision that he thought an appeal would be distracting. He retired from the paid job of state education CEO, though he is still the school board chairman. 

Perdue took some hits for appointing Harrison to the job running the education agency. The Mecklenburg County Democratic Party admonished Perdue for the attempted end-run around Atkinson. 

BOWLED OVER: UNC system President Erskine Bowles says the system's top board members first supported, then flip-flopped on a deal to pay a healthy severance to outgoing N.C. State University Chancellor James Oblinger. Bowles made that revelation in a visit to The News & Observer’s editorial board. Bowles also said former Gov. Mike Easley wasn’t bothered by the newspaper "picking on" him, but had a real problem with the paper picking on his wife. What really got Dome’s attention was that apparently, the most powerful man in state higher education, eats Chick-Fil-A twice a day. No word on whether he prefers Barbecue or Polynesian sauce.

IN A PERFECT WORLD: The state School Board did some dreaming at its retreat this week. Dome expects an army of four-foot high protesters, armed with spitballs, to protest the board's pipe dream of lengthening the school year.

LOST IN TRANSLATION: Gov. Beverly Perdue is headed to China and Japan to drum up business for the state. Let’s all give a collective cross of the fingers that a mis-translated malaprop won’t accidentally lead to an international incident. Sure would love to see some video of the governor performing at a Karaoke bar, though.

IN OTHER NEWS: Bill Hefner, the one-time dean of the state’s Congressional delegation, died this week. U.S. Sens. John McCain and Mitch McConnell joined Sen. Richard Burr for a health care forum at an invitation-only event. District Attorney Rex Gore has recused himself from deciding whether to prosecute state Sen. R.C. Soles in an incident in which Soles shot a would-be intruder.

State Board of Education members spent considerable time Tuesday talking about something many want but they aren't going to get. Not in the foreseeable future, anyway.

The state's public education leaders want kids at school for more than 180 days, and they talked a lot about how China and India have longer school years, Lynn Bonner reports.

"We better pay attention to what's going on in other parts of the world," said board member John A. Tate III.

Board chairman Bill Harrison acknowledged that having students spend more time at school is not something that's going to happen soon, considering the state's financial straits.

In fact, Wilkes County schools got permission from legislators to cut this school year to 162 days and make each day 45 minutes longer so it could save money.

Nonetheless, the state should talk about ways to have students spend more time at school, Harrison said. Perhaps a small test program could be proposed as part of the state's application for a federal education grant, he said.

"When we look at disadvantaged students, they're really doing nothing productive when they're away from school," Harrison said. "The most productive thing they're doing is sitting and watching TV."

While most in the room endorsed more time at school, state superintendent June Atkinson said some students may be better off spending less time there.

"Some kids don't need to come to school everyday," she said.

Atkinson wants the state to move toward "personalized education plans," which she said would involve, for example, chances for high school students to take classes, work at internships, and work on projects with mentors.

"We've squeezed all the drops of educational juice out of the traditional schedule in public schools," she said. "Traditional schedules don't work for all students."

The State Board of Education, during its two-day retreat at Raleigh's Sheraton Hotel, set out six goals for students and teachers.

The goals are written in ed-wonk language, but Dome has tried its best to write them in English, Lynn Bonner reports. Essentially, the board wants:

* Every student prepared for global competition.

* Student progress measured in a way that alerts teachers to problems so they can adjust the way they teach.

* Every "learning environment" (Dome thinks this means "schools" and classrooms") to be "inviting, respectful, supportive, inclusive and flexible."

* School leaders that create a culture that embraces change and continuous improvement.

* Financial planning and budgeting aligned with maximizing student achievement.

More after the jump.

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The State Board of Education decided to start an ad hoc committee on charter schools that will look at the criteria used to approve new schools and how to close those that aren't working.

A lot of the older charter schools are struggling, said state board chairman Bill Harrison, while applicants for new charters have better proposals, Lynn Bonner reports.

"We need to determine what to do with charter schools not performing, specific consequences and procedures," he said.

The board wants to revive the notion of charters as incubators for new ideas, and address the issue of de facto segregation of charter schools.

Racially diverse districts, including Wake County, have charters that are nearly all white or all minority.

"How can we ensure a more diverse student population?" Harrison asked.

For months, Gov. Beverly Perdue has maintained that the federal stimulus money for education should prevent local districts from having to cut teachers.

Now that the state has a budget that does not explicitly prohibit districts from increasing class sizes in 4th grade and higher, Perdue wants the districts to say how they're spending their stimulus money, Lynn Bonner reports.

Perdue said Friday that she asked the State Board of Education this week to get a stimulus spending report from every district.

"The locals have received fairly significant sums of money from the federal government in education dollars earmarked for recovery, to keep massive cuts from happening in North Carolina," she said.

"That's what the money's for, so I've asked them to follow up within a month and find out what the money is actually being spent on."

June Atkinson wasn't the only big winner today. Bob Orr also won.

Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice, is a student and teacher of North Carolina's constitution. He cited the constitution regularly last year when he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor. (During his run for governor, Orr offered his own plan for how the state's public schools should be governed.)

Orr, who runs the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, has sued the state over the lottery, tax-increment financing and tax incentives for Dell. None of those suits has been successful.

But Orr represented Atkinson, a Democrat, in her suit against Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue and the State Board of Education over who has the authority to run the state's public schools.

And, on Friday, he was on the winning side.

June Atkinson has won her court fight over who is in charge of public education in North Carolina.

Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood ruled today that Atkinson, who was elected statewide as the state superintendent of public instruction, has the authority under North Carolina's constitution to run the state's schools.

Hobgood ruled that the State Board of Education has the authority to set policy for the state's public schools, but that the state constitution dictates that Atkinson, as the state superintendent, is responsible for implementing those policies.

Atkinson, a Democrat, had sued Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue and the State Board of Education for improperly stripping her of her duties. Perdue has appointed William Harrison (pictured above) to run the state Department of Public Instruction and lead the State Board of Education as chairman.

That prompted Atkinson to file suit in April.

A lawyer with the state Attorney General's office had argued in court earlier this week that the state constitution gives the legislature the right to set out the superintendent's duties, and the law says the superintendent will do what the state education board says.

Update: Hobgood's order is effective immediately, although attorneys for the state attorney general said they would appeal the ruling.

A decision is expected this week on the question of whether State Supertintendent June Atkinson has suffered a violation of her constitutional rights because she has not been allowed to run the state's schools.

Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood said he would announce a decision on Friday, reports Lynn Bonner.

A lawyer with the state Attorney General's office, Mark Davis, said the constitution gives the legislature the right to set out the superintendent's duties, and the law says the superintendent will do what the State Board of Education says.

"The constitution does not say she can choose her duties or that she has inherent duties that cannot be taken away," Davis said today at a hearing on Atkinson's lawsuit against Gov. Beverly Perdue, the state and the state board.

Phil Kirk, who has done just about every job in Raleigh except run the Zamboni machine at Carolina Hurricanes games, has a new job.

Kirk will go to work in July for Brady Services Inc., an energy services company specializing in heating, air conditioning and energy efficient buildings in Morrisville, reports Rob Christensen. He will work as new business development/corporate marketing leader for the company’s energy services group.

Kirk is a former president of the N.C. Chamber, former chairman of the N.C. State Board of Education, former state secretary of Health and Human Services, former chief of staff to two governors and a former state legislator.

Most recently, he was vice president for external relations at Catawba College. He currently serves as chairman of the board for the Public School Forum of North Carolina.