In 2011 North Carolina got a super-majority in the NC General Assembly and the rise of Sen. Phil Berger as the most powerful lawmaker in the state. Then we got the removal of due-process rights, graduate degree pay bumps removed, less per-pupil expenditures, vouchers, unregulated charter school growth, school performance grading system, class size cap removed, etc.

And then came the 2016 election of Mark Johnson and a special session in late 2016. It was supposed to be for hurricane relief after another busy storm season.

It gave us HB17.

With the effects of House Bill 17 from the surreptitious special session of December in 2016, Mark Johnson became the most enabled incoming state superintendent in state history. He gained powers that even his predecessor did not possess one-half the magnitude of.

DPI got reorganized. The State Board of Education got less control over the state’s public school system.

And Phil Berger got his puppet.

Below is what DPI’s organizational chart was prior to the new reorganization in 2016.

This is what it looks like still to this day.

When Catherine Truitt was elected as stat super in 2020, she stayed in tune with the party narrative established by Berger.

But Catherine Truitt will not be the state superintendent after this term. In fact, she will not be in Raleigh as an elected official. If this teacher has his way, Mo Green will be the new NC State Super.

And Phil Berger fears Mo Green.

Johnson and Truitt did Berger’s bidding.

Green will not.

Don’t be surprised if Berger calls special session to allow him to a chance reverse the effects of HB17 at his will.