Bill would shift control of NC schools for deaf and blind students to GOP lawmakers

North Carolina Republican lawmakers want to have more say in how the state’s three public schools for blind and deaf students are run.

Legislation passed unanimously Wednesday by the NC House would shift control of the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf in Wilson and the North Carolina School for the Deaf in Morganton away from the State Board of Education.

Instead, each school would be run by a newly created board of trustees whose members would be mostly selected by the GOP-led General Assembly.

The State Board of Education, which has a Democratic majority, would see its role reduced to general supervision, such as setting which parts of the state each school serves.

Rep. Linda Cooper-Suggs, Democrat of Wilson County, said the Wilson school is “excited to see this change.”

But some Democratic lawmakers, despite their support for the bill, wondered if problems — even lawsuits — could arise if these new boards use their own admissions standards.

Committee staff assured them all federal laws would be met with boards in charge.

Lawmakers pick trustees

Currently, the state board governs the three schools for blind and deaf students, including setting their admissions criteria. The state superintendent, through the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, administers the schools.

Under Senate Bill 593, each school would have a five-member board of trustees that would run operations, including hiring the school’s director and employing the staff. Two board members would be recommended by House Speaker Tim Moore, two by Senate leader Phil Berger and the fifth person from Gov. Roy Cooper.

The trustees would set the eligibility criteria for admissions to their school.

Each board would have powers similar to that of a local school board.

The legislation would phase in the transition in control, with the new boards running the schools beginning in the 2023-24 school year.

House Republicans stripped language from an unrelated bill to propose the changes to the three schools.

Earlier this month, GOP lawmakers passed a law that transferred Gov. Cooper’s powers to appoint members to the Rockingham Community College’s board of trustees over to the General Assembly.