The State Board of Education shall supervise and administer the free public school system and the educational funds provided for its support, except the funds mentioned in Section 7 of this Article, and shall make all needed rules and regulations in relation thereto, subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly.
History Note. - The provisions of this section are similar to those of Art. IX, § 9, Const. 1868, as amended in 1942.
Legal Periodicals. - For comment on state regulation of private religious schools, see 16 Wake Forest L. Rev. 405 (1980).
For article, "The Pearl in the Oyster: The Public Trust Doctrine in North Carolina," see 12 Campbell L. Rev. 23 (1989).
For a survey of 1996 developments in constitutional law, see 75 N.C.L. Rev. 2252 (1997).
CASE NOTES
State May Regulate Private Schools. - The State has the power and authority to establish minimum standards for, and to regulate in a reasonable manner, private schools giving instruction to children of compulsory school age. This is necessarily true because such schools affect the public school system. In this connection it has authority, among other things, to inspect, supervise, and examine such schools and their teachers and pupils, and to require that all children of proper age attend some school, that teachers be of good moral character and patriotic disposition, that certain studies plainly essential to good citizenship be taught, and that nothing be taught that is manifestly inimical to the public welfare. State v. Williams, 253 N.C. 337, 117 S.E.2d 444 (1960), decided under former Art. IX, § 9, Const. 1868, as amended.
As Exercise of Police Power. - The constitutional authority of the State Board of Education to make regulations for and supervise and administer schools is confined to public schools and activities substantially affecting public schools and the public school system. It may have and exert only such authority in the supervision and control of private schools and their agents and representatives as is conferred by the General Assembly in the proper exercise of the police power of the State. State v. Williams, 253 N.C. 337, 117 S.E.2d 444 (1960), decided under former Art. IX, § 9, Const. 1868, as amended.
But Must Not Be Arbitrary. - While the legislature, under the police power, may regulate education in many respects in private schools, the exercise of such power of regulation must not be arbitrary, and must be limited to the preservation of the public safety, the public health, or the public morals. State v. Williams, 253 N.C. 337, 117 S.E.2d 444 (1960), decided under former Art. IX, § 9, Const. 1868, as amended.
Constitution of 1868 Authorized Regulations on Certification of Teachers. - Article IX, § 9, Const. 1868, was designed to make, and did make, the powers conferred upon the State Board of Education subject to limitation and revision by acts of the General Assembly. That Constitution, itself, conferred upon the State Board of Education the enumerated powers to regulate the salaries and qualifications of teachers and to make needful rules and regulations in relation to this and other aspects of the administration of the public school system. In the silence of the General Assembly, the authority of the State Board to promulgate and administer further regulations concerning the certification of teachers in the public schools was limited only by other provisions in the Constitution itself. Guthrie v. Taylor, 279 N.C. 703, 185 S.E.2d 193 (1971), cert. denied, 406 U.S. 920, 92 S. Ct. 1774, 32 L. Ed. 2d 119 (1972).
And Present Constitution Contains Similar Authorization. - Rules and regulations relating to the certification of teachers being needed for the effective supervision and administration of the public school system, there is no difference in substance between the powers of the State Board of Education authorizing regulations on this matter under Art. IX, § 9, Const. 1868, and this section. Guthrie v. Taylor, 279 N.C. 703, 185 S.E.2d 193 (1971), cert. denied, 406 U.S. 920, 92 S. Ct. 1774, 32 L. Ed. 2d 119 (1972).
State Board of Education does not have the power to credential speech pathologists pursuant to their regulatory authority over the qualifications of school employees; the Licensure Act for Speech and Language Pathologists and Audiologists (G.S. 90-292) alone governs the qualification of persons practicing speech pathology, no matter what the setting. North Carolina Bd. of Exmrs. for Speech & Language Pathologists & Audiologists v. North Carolina State Bd. of Educ., 122 N.C. App. 15, 468 S.E.2d 826 (1996), aff'd, 345 N.C. 493, 480 S.E.2d 50 (1997).
Cited in Givens v. Poe, 346 F. Supp. 202 (W.D.N.C. 1972).
Opinions of Attorney General
Establishing Certified Employees' Salaries and Amount of Work. - N.C. Const., Art. IX, § 5 and G.S. 115C-12(9), 115C-272(a), 115C-284(c), 115C-296 and 115C-315(d) give the State Board of Education the authority to establish salary schedules for all certified employees and to establish the amount of work required to earn those salaries. See opinion of Attorney General to Mr. James O. Barber, Controller, State Board of Education, 55 N.C.A.G. 1 (1985).