Last week was Sunshine Week, a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.
Today the sun seems to have gone into hiding here in Raleigh.
During House Education Week last month, Speaker Thom Tillis tapped several school superintendents to serve in “education working groups” with legislators, with the intent of seeking superintendents’ expertise and input on policies and legislation related to education reform.
Last week, the Winston-Salem Journal reported that lawmakers had already met informally in these education working groups to look at regulatory reform and identify state restrictions that can be eliminated to give schools more flexibility. Future meetings are said to include superintendents.
The word on the street is that there will be an education working group meeting of lawmakers and superintendents tomorrow, Tuesday March 19, 9am-noon in room 306B of the Legislative Office Building. Multiple calls to Speaker Tillis’ office, however, went unreturned when asked to confirm whether or not this meeting is open to the public. Calls to various lawmakers’ offices about this meeting went unreturned; however, one legislator’s office did confirm that the meeting will take place tomorrow.
The open meetings law states that “Whereas the public bodies that administer the legislative, policy-making, quasi-judicial, administrative, and advisory functions of North Carolina and its political subdivisions exist solely to conduct the people’s business, it is the public policy of North Carolina that the hearings, deliberations, and actions of these bodies be conducted openly.”
A public body is defined as: “any elected or appointed authority, board, commission, committee, council, or other body of the State, or of one or more counties, cities, school administrative units, constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina, or other political subdivisions or public corporations in the State that (i) is composed of two or more members and (ii) exercises or is authorized to exercise a legislative, policy-making, quasi-judicial, administrative, or advisory function.”
NC Policy Watch plans to try to attend the meeting tomorrow.
We’ve had to move this Thursday’s very special NC Policy Watch Crucial Conversation luncheon with Diane Ravitch to a larger-than-usual space to accommodate the demand for seats (we’ll be in Venture Hall at Marbles Kids Museum – which is in the IMAX Theatre Building) but fortunately, this move has freed up some extra space so you still have time to RSVP!