NC education superintendent: Johnson defeats incumbent Atkinson

Republican challenger Mark Johnson has defeated incumbent Democrat June Atkinson in the race for superintendent of public instruction.

The incumbent

Democrat June Atkinson was running for her fourth term as North Carolina superintendent of public instruction.

The challengers

Republican Mark Johnson, a member of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education, challenged her.

About the office

The superintendent runs the state Department of Public Instruction, which carries out state education policies and laws, oversees statewide testing and acts as a liaison between the state and federal governments.

What shaped the race

The race featured two opposing views of education in the North Carolina. Atkinson pointed to how the state’s high school graduation rate has risen from 68.3 percent to an all-time high of 85.8 percent over the past decade, among other improvements. Johnson contended the Department of Public Instruction was broken – noting that 52 percent of students who graduated from a North Carolina high school and enrolled in a community college in the state took at least one remedial course.

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 8:30 PM with the headline "NC education superintendent: Johnson defeats incumbent Atkinson."