RALEIGH – Just when I thought that the debate about education funding in North Carolina couldn’t get any sillier, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Jim Pughsley had to go and embarrass himself in court.
Pughsley and other CMS officials testified Tuesday in the Wake County courtroom of Superior Court Judge Howdy Manning, who has tasked by the NC Supreme Court with the responsibility of enforcing its rulings in the Leandro school-equity case. It was mostly an hours-long rehearsal of the usual stuff – yes, we have a problem, and yes, we are already solving it, but yes, we need more money.
The twist came when Pughsley started answers questions from attorneys. For example, Thomas Ziko of the NC Attorney General’s office noted that the school system – which is, after all, located in the most affluent urban county in North Carolina – had already embarked on some reform initiatives funded with county money. Pughsley indicated that he was worried county commissioners would not fork over additional dollars, dollars over-and-above what is necessary to keep up with enrollment growth.
If the county commissioners aren’t forthcoming, Ziko asked, would that be devastating to the system? “Yes,” Pughsley said. Then, Ziko asked, will you sue them like you’ve sued the state for more money? “No,” was Pughsley’s answer.
Later, the attorney representing CMS, Ann Majestic, didn’t get the answer she needed out of Pughsley. She asked if the system could implement its initiatives to improve the performance of Mecklenburg high schools with the money it currently had. “I believe we can,” the superintendent oddly responded.
Then what’s this lawsuit about?
Oh, wait, Pughsley clarified later. “We can’t do it solely with what we have. We do need additional resources.” Of course, of course. There are never enough resources in public education.
Think about this. If relatively wealthy counties like Mecklenburg don’t have “enough” resources to do the job, who does? Apparently poor systems don’t. They started the lawsuit in the first place. Can middle-income counties serve as the source of funds for the rich and the poor? Will someone please start making sense?
All the lawyers, judges, bureaucrats, and activists seem to think that every community in North Carolina is entitled to more “resources” for public education, and that these “resources” can be “provided” by the state. In reality, any new dollars plowed into the state’s public schools must, by definition, come from places like Mecklenburg and Hoke and everywhere in-between. A taxpayer is a taxpayer.
As I have previously pointed out, the notion that there are dramatic differences in education spending across North Carolina school districts is mythical. State and federal dollars pay for the vast majority of expenditures, thus reducing variation. Local funding, primarily from property taxes, serves to reduce real disparities in resources among districts because they adjust for differences in housing costs, which significantly affect school expenditures for personnel and land.
The Leandro Lobby does not really expect for any order from Judge Manning to transfer resources to Charlotte-Mecklenburg that are not already available in Charlotte-Mecklenburg via local taxation. What it wants is political cover for another big state spending and tax increase. And local officials want it, too – they want lawmakers in Raleigh to tax households and businesses in Charlotte to pay for schools in Charlotte, rather than having to do it themselves.
As for Pughsley, I’m not exactly sure what he wants – except perhaps for a do-over of his disastrous testimony on Tuesday.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of Carolina Journal Online.