A look back and ahead

Each year, the Observer’s editorial board looks ahead to some critical questions Charlotte and North Carolina face in the upcoming 12 months. Today, we answer last year’s questions, then ask three more about issues that will shape our quality of life in the year ahead.

Did CMS get leadership?

Yes and no. Interim superintendent Ann Clark has performed very capably since the abrupt exit of Heath Morrison in late 2014, but the CMS Board of Education has done too little to decide on a more permanent leader.

The board had a public discussion about a new superintendent way back in July, then went into sleep mode on the task soon after. That’s left the district in a bind. Board members not only need to finish that job in 2016; they need to follow through on vows to take a new look this year at student assignment.

That’s two significant tasks that don’t need to be stacked upon each other. One possible solution: Offer Clark a one-year extension, get student assignment finished in 2016, then start a search for new superintendent as soon as that’s completed. That would allow a new superintendent – perhaps Clark, if she wants to raise her hand for the permanent job – to know what he or she faces with student assignment.

Whatever the solution may be, it’s well past time for the board to show some leadership of its own.

Did voters get a real say?

We said last year that North Carolina should move to a nonpartisan method of drawing legislative and congressional maps to reduce the huge number of voters who are disenfranchised because they live in a district tilted heavily toward one party or the other.

Despite considerable new momentum in that direction, it didn’t happen.

Two main bills were filed that would take the mapmaking duties from the politicians and give it to bipartisan or nonpartisan panels. One would have started the new approach in 2021; one delayed it until 2031. Neither got a final vote.

As a result, voters again face non-competitive elections in 2016. In 43 percent of legislative districts, only one candidate will be on the November ballot. Others were scared off because of the extreme gerrymandering.

The number of voices calling for independent redistricting is rising, and they represent both parties. But the Republican legislature, like the Democratic legislatures before it, is in no mood to relinquish any of its power, so the voters lose.

Will N.C. face a budget shortfall?

Thankfully, the answer to that question was a definitive no.

Skeptics of the Republican-led legislature’s massive cuts in income and corporate taxes turned out to be wrong in predicting budget shortfalls. Instead, the state came out with a $400 million surplus.

However, many taxpayers were surprised to find that their tax refunds also vanished along with those predicted budget shortfalls. Changes in withholding rules and the elimination of key deductions took away refunds while bolstering tax collections. Lawmakers bowed to public outcry by restoring a key deduction on medical expenses for senior citizens.

It remains to be seen whether surpluses will continue as the GOP continues cutting personal income taxes and raising sales taxes. Legislative estimates say the state will take in at least $700 million less annually in income taxes in 2017.

GOP leaders need to remain vigilant and open to the possibility that they might have to adjust their thinking if the tax cuts fail to generate the economic gains and additional income they have predicted.

Will CMS move toward diversity in schools?

It can, and it should. There are too many struggling schools in the district, and studies show that students in those schools benefit when they are in classrooms with children of different ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Importantly, studies also show that students in high-performing schools can benefit from more diversity in their classrooms.

But as always, the student assignment question is far from that simple. Among the issues: Parents in those high-performing schools won’t welcome change, and steps that include mandatory busing to new schools might cause some families to flee CMS schools. Also, student demographics don’t support the level of integration CMS achieved decades ago.

All of which means that the Board of Education faces a truly difficult task, from setting expectations to following through on them. We hope the board, along with the CMS community, tackles it thoughtfully.

Will Charlotte effectively address its economic mobility problem?

Ranking dead last in economic mobility would trouble any city, we would hope. But Charlotte being what it is – a place that has always had outsized ambitions for itself and usually met them – it was especially disturbed when a 2014 study placed it 50^th among 50 big cities for a poor child’s ability to move up in the world.

In response, leaders created the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Opportunity Task Force, and 2016 is the year that we find out if it can actually make progress on the problem or if the panel is just another well-meaning but ultimately ineffective gesture.

Charlotte residents must understand the complexity of these problems and not expect instant fixes. But they also must demand – and contribute to – approaches that truly make a difference.

Task force leaders aim to issue recommendations by October. They say they have “a bias for action.” It is imperative that they do.

Can McCrory tack back to the center and win reelection?

He won election as a pro-business, moderate Republican mayor. As Gov. Pat McCrory gears up for reelection, his first-term record gives him strong “pro-business” credentials, but the “moderate” label looks ill-fitting on him.

He can point to lower taxes and unemployment, as well as a $400 million budget surplus this past budget year. He also vetoed a bill exempting magistrates from performing marriages if they have a religious objection. (Lawmakers overrode his veto).

He must re-polish his credentials as a moderate while not alienating conservative GOP voters. Given today’s hyper-polarized politics, that will be a tough task indeed.

This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 12:27 PM with the headline "A look back and ahead."