USDA Listening Tour

US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Senator Richard Burr and Congressman Larry Kissell were in Hamlet, NC (Richmond County) to talk with interested people in the community. I attended this meeting and it was great to hear what these folks had to say about agriculture, rural America, education and the future of our nation.

Here is a snapshot of what was talked about on Tuesday:

- The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) brings in $1.84 for every $1 expended
- Know Your Farmer Know Your Food program - looking at purchasing more local goods and offering more than just farmer's markets to keep wealth in the community in which it was produced
- Farm to School program - asked for $1 billion for breakfast and lunch programs, important to link the producer to the customer, free or reduced breakfast and lunches must be easier to access so that students don't feel stigmatized, grants funded by stimulus money helped remodel kitchens to help accommodate this program
- The budget for forestry should be split into two so that fighting forest fires doesn't take up so much of the budget, should be split into maintenance & fire fighting


- North Carolina is an education leader and many ideas used in the state will be models for federal programs
- Community colleges are a hidden treasure and there must be more focus on this area of education
- Green jobs must be part of the next generation of jobs and community colleges can prepare folks for these jobs
- it's important to reform education delivery because one size fits all doesn't work (hand-held devices which held all textbook information could be in our future)


- Opportunities for Regional Economic Development - USDA is looking at improving rural areas through regional efforts v. individual grants, if a coalition of interested parties envisioned a way in which to fundamentally improve an area they want to know

June Atkinson: in charge of NC public schools

Didn't we vote for that in November when June Atkinson was elected as Superintendent of Public Instruction? That's what the North Carolina State Grange thought at least... which is why we contacted Governor Perdue's office in February over our concern that the appointment of Bill Harrison eroded the authority of the Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson as an elected official.

Our communication with the Governor's office was as follows:
According to G.S. 115C-19, the Superintendent of Public Instruction acts as Chief Administration Officer of the State Board of Education and manages the administration of day-to-day functions of the public school system. Appointing Bill Harrison to function as the operator of day-to-day operations of the Department disregarded the Superintendent's duties as prescribed by state law. The State Constitution states that the elected official is the leader over North Carolina schools. The Superintendent of Public Instruction was elected by North Carolina voters as more than an "ambassador" for local school systems teachers and business communities. The power to hand-pick appointees is clearly undemocratic because portions of the Superintendent's functions will no longer be fulfilled by the duly elected Superintendent.

June Atkinson sued the state and Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood said Friday that Atkinson is the person at the top of North Carolina schools because the state constitution assigns that duty to the elected superintendent. The video of the Court's ruling can be found here (for the "meat" of the ruling, fast forward & watch from 5:30 to 9:45)

Bill Harrison will still be employed by the Department of Public Instruction and will serve as the Chairman of the Board of Education, however, he will no longer be considered the CEO of schools. "I think we're both adults and we're both focused on the work that needs to be done, and that's what's important," Harrison said.