At the most basic level, “there is absolutely no indication anywhere that voters want to change the direction the state is heading,” Davis said, pointing out that virtually every incumbent legislator was re-elected. But voters slightly narrowed the margins that Democrats hold in state House — to a razor-thin 62-58 majority — primarily by picking candidates who more accurately reflect the traditional politics of some districts.

For example, Davis noted, incumbent Democrat Rep. O. Max Melton lost to Republican Fern Shubert in Union County, but she had held the seat for two previous terms in what is a GOP-leaning county. On the surface, then, not much has changed. Democrats still hold the Governor's Mansion and both legislative chambers. The congressional delegation is unchanged with seven Republicans and five Democrats, and Democrats will continue to dominate the Council of State.

But Republicans have a lot to crow about. The state Supreme Court now is 5-1 Republican with one vacancy and the GOP made inroads in the Court of Appeals. A Republican finally cracked the Council of State with the election of Rep. Cherie Berry as Commissioner of Labor.

But to discover the sea change in North Carolina politics, Davis said you must look beyond party labels to see the individuals involved. “Exactly half of the Council of State comes from the state's most historically disenfranchised groups. Ten years ago you had nothing but white male Democrats there; now half of them are blacks, women or Republicans.”

With an eye toward the next congressional and legislative reapportionment, Republicans tried hard to win at least one of the three seats of political power by winning control of the House or Senate or by taking the Governor's Mansion. Even with George Bush carrying the state handily, the GOP found none of his coattails and failed to take any of the three power centers.

“The Republicans badly wanted one of those three seats at the reapportionment table, but I think it won't matter much that they came up empty,” Davis said. We have become such a state of ticket-splitters that I don't think it's possible much anymore to draw safe seats for everybody. The record now shows that people by and large look past party labels and pick the politicians they think will solve their problems.

“The public has seized control of politics away from the parties and there's flat no way you can draw districts to take that away from them.”

Major Ruling in Leandro Case

In a pivotal development in the six-year-long Leandro case, Superior Court Judge Howard Manning has ruled that the state has a constitutional obligation to provide pre-kindergarten education for at-risk 4-year-olds, a finding that has major implications for the state budget. The judge's ruling implies that the state, in order to properly serve the needs of these children, would have to make Smart Start (or something like it) a fully-functioning part of the K-12 public school system.

“North Carolina lacks sufficient quality pre-kindergarten educational programs to meet the needs of its at-risk children,” Judge Manning said in his ruling. “As a result, these at-risk children . . . are being denied their fundamental constitutional right to receive the equal opportunity to a sound basic education.”

After making that basic conclusion on the constitutional issues, Manning left the decision on how to expand those programs up to the governor and the General Assembly, but said they should act “at a reasoned and deliberate pace.”

Manning said that at-risk children, because they are not receiving the proper intervention services, usually fail in school, drop out and turn to crime. Until and unless this vicious cycle is broken by education and better opportunity for this segment of the at-risk population . . . there will not be an equal educational opportunity for every child in North Carolina.”

Manning added that “the bottom line is simple. The court, based on the clear and convincing evidence, finds that at-risk children should be provided the opportunity to attend a quality pre-kindergarten educational based program that has, as its goal, the preparation of at-risk children for kindergarten.”

He concluded that under the North Carolina Constitution “the right of each child to an equal opportunity to receive a sound basic education in the public schools is not to be conditioned upon age, but rather upon the need of the particular child, including, if necessary, the equal opportunity of an at-risk child to receive early childhood pre-kindergarten.”

Officials estimate that anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 children across the state fall into the category of at-risk 4-year-olds. Nobody knows how much it would cost the state to extend specialized educational services to them, but a similar program in Charlotte spends $10.1 million a year to serve 1,800 low-income 4-year-olds, or about $5,600 per child.

Manning pointed out that Smart Start, Gov. Jim Hunt's early-childhood program, is run by a non profit group, not by the state and “is not principally a pre-kindergarten education program.”

He said plainly, however, that his ruling “does not require the State of North Carolina to provide every 4-year-old child with a pre-kindergarten program at state expense.

A universal 4-year-old pre-kindergarten program is not required to meet the sound basic education standard of Leandro because, fortunately, the majority of 4-year-olds are not at-risk and are able to enter kindergarten at age 5 ready to learn.” — Steve Tuttle


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