Unless you're a member of this process, you probably don't know much about it. In order to better understand the role of the Governor's Schools and the infrastructure that supports it, I offer this person observation of the system and how it works. ---Jim Hart

This chart depicts the structure of the organizations that surround the schools. I will explain each organization and attempt to explain the interactions between them. It can get somewhat confusing, so please bear with me. If, after reading this, you are still confused, then send questions to the GSAA President.

The NC State Department of Public Instruction

The State Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is what many of you might call the Department of Education. All of the state's public schools are administered through the DPI, including charter schools. Governor's School is a program of the Division of Exceptional Children's Services. This division handles all programs for exceptional children, on either end of the spectrum. Governor’s School is one of the few programs for gifted students they handle, most of their responsibility being in special education for the learning disabled or disadvantaged. Because of the special needs of the disabled and the more general nature of GT classes in the public schools, the Governor's School is not the top priority of the division, although the staff there does a good job of supporting it. DPI is led by Secretary of Education June Atkinson. Exceptional Children's Services is headed by Mary Watson. Camilla Roberson is the Governor's Schools' only full-time employee, as Special Assistant for the Governor's Schools. All requests for the GS budget originate in the DPI.

The State Board of Education

The State Board is a governing body that oversees education in North Carolina, including public, private, and Charter schools, community colleges, and the UNC System. While they do not get involved in the day-to-day operation of the DPI, the Board does have the power to determine the budget requests that go to the Governor's office and the Legislature. Thus, they are a powerful force. Any budget increases requested for the Governor's Schools must be passed by the Board, or they have almost no chance of getting into the budget.

The Governor and the State Legislature

Once a budget is requested by the DPI and passed along by the Board of Education, it goes to the Governor's Office and to the Legislature. In our convoluted political system, both the Governor and the Legislature will propose a budget for the coming fiscal year. Any increases in the GS budget that get past the Board must make it into one or the other of these two budget proposals. If it gets into both, it's almost certain to pass. If it gets into neither, it's certain to die. If it gets into one, it becomes a negotiating point that will most likely be reduced or removed in some sort of legislative trade-off.

The GS Board of Governors

The Board of Governors is an advisory body, selected by the DPI, to advise them on how to handle the Governor's Schools. The BoG meets 3-4 times a year to discuss things such as the criteria for entry to GS, the numbers of students to select for what classes, how to get a quality program on the minimal budget that we have, how to increase awareness of GS, and how to improve the experience. The Board is formed of educators, school superintendents, parents of alumni, the GSAA President, and the Presidents of the host institutions. DPI personnel always attend the meetings. Note that the BoG is an advisory committee only. It has no power to set policy, and DPI is free to ignore their advice. However, the BoG is the GSAA's line of entry into the political process.

The GSAA

The GSAA is, in this environment, a Political Action Committee of sorts. Our job is to support legislation that supports the Schools through contacting our legislators, the Governor, the Board of Education, etc. When pro-GS legislation is being developed or is pending in the legislature, the GSAA should write, call, and contact their representatives and ask them to work in favor of the GS. We also have a mandate to increase public awareness of the GS and to support GS locally.

The GS Foundation

The Foundation is selected by the GSAA to do one thing and one thing only: secure additional private funding for the Governor's Schools. They get this funding through personal or corporate donations, and the proceeds go directly to the Schools.

The Process

Suppose that there is something that the GSAA feels would be of benefit to the Governor's Schools. What do we do within this environment? Well, in a perfect world, this is what would happen.

The President of the GSAA would take the proposal to the next Board of Governors meeting and bring it up to the members, asking them to recommend that DPI request the additional budget to meet the request. The Board may make the recommendation or not. If it does, DPI may do it, or they may not. (The reverse is also true: DPI may take the idea even if the BoG doesn't recommend it.) Assuming that the request gets past DPI, it goes to the State Board of Education.

The Board of Education may or may not put the request into their budget proposal. It would be helpful to the request for the GSAA to write the Board in support of the request. If the Board does not accept the request, it is essentially dead. If they pass it on, then it goes to the Governor and the Legislature.

The Governor and the Legislature will consider the Board's request when designing their budget proposals for the next fiscal year. As noted above, a request that gets into both budgets is an almost certain victory. If it gets into neither, it is a certain death. The GSAA should lobby the legislature and the Governor at this point to try to get the measure into both budget proposals. Then, when the measure comes before the legislature, the GSAA should write their representatives in support of the measure to make sure that it doesn't get cut in the flurry of legislative deal-making that surrounds any budget negotiation.

If, at any point along this path, the request gets stopped, we do still have the option to request that the Foundation pay for the request and give it to the school as a grant. However, at this time, the Foundation has little in terms of resources to to fulfill such requests.

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