RALEIGH – North Carolina voters will choose their state and federal representatives next Tuesday – strike that, they’ll effectively choose some of their representatives – but we do not have a purely representative form of government. North Carolinians in some communities will also vote directly on important issues, such as proposed changes in county-commission elections in Chatham and Orange counties and two big school-bond referenda in Forsyth and Wake counties.
Not being a citizen-initiative state, North Carolina doesn’t hold regular, statewide public votes on substantive issues as many other states do. Elsewhere this year, there will be dozen of major initiative and referendum votes on Election Day, deciding issues ranging from sports-stadium subsidies and same-sex marriage bans to state spending limits, racial preferences, and property-rights protections. As a fan of mixed constitutions, I have previously argued that North Carolina should adopt some kind of system to allow voters to place such issues on the ballot, in cases where there is significant public support (the threshold for petition signatures should be fairly high) and legislative leaders have repeatedly demonstrated their unwillingness to allow proposals to come to the floor of the General Assembly for a vote (not just when lawmakers vote down a proposal I like).
Until the state constitution is rewritten thusly – and if we ever get to that point, I’d argue for other changes to reduce the number of statewide elective offices, straighten out our crazy-quilt organizational chart, and clarify matters such as taxpayer rights and higher-education subsidies – North Carolinians only have a direct say in policymaking when lawmakers, be they state or local, place issues on the ballot for approval.
Education consumes most state and local tax dollars in North Carolina, so it shouldn’t be surprising that so much media attention and public passion have accompanied school-bond referenda in recent years. While voters have continued to approve most school-construction bonds, high-profile defeats in our two largest school districts – Wake County (1999) and Charlotte-Mecklenburg (several times, most recently in 2005) – have shocked the education establishment statewide and prompted calls for legislation. Some local officials have sought additional taxing authority to finance school construction with devices such as impact fees, real-estate transfer taxes, and higher sales taxes. They want to reduce reliance on the very-visible, usually unpopular property tax. Others want the authority to use regulations to restrict real-estate development, to partner with private firms to build and operate school buildings (already accomplished to some degree last session), or to expand options such as charter schools to reduce the enrollment pressure on district-run public schools.
The two largest bonds on this year’s ballot exhibit different aspects of the school-construction debate. In Forsyth, the major opposition to a $250 million bond comes from civil-rights organizations whose leaders believe that the system’s construction plan will promote racial segregation. In Wake, where a $970 million school bond appears to be in huge trouble, the forces arrayed against the plan are more varied. Fiscal conservatives opposed to the projected tax increase and seeking more economical solutions to school capacity (Wake’s school designs are more spacious than in most comparable districts, where the per-student costs are about 20 percent lower) have joined with parents upset at their students being assigned to year-round schools, voters upset with the school district’s financial management, and even some voters who want all Wake schools to use the year-round calendar as a default (they believe it would be fairer and save much more money) to present a daunting challenge to bond proponents.
Obviously, the battle for control of Congress, the state legislature, the state judiciary, and many county commissions in North Carolina will draw most of the attention in next week’s balloting. But don’t discount the importance of these direct-democracy contests. I am certain that public-school leaders, and not just in Wake County, have already taken that advice to heart.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.