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68 <br />PROPOSED CHANGES <br />POLICY STATEMENT ON ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION <br />Introduction <br />The Association believes that every child should have equal access to a high quality basic <br />education program designed to prepare students for successful living, work, and good <br />citizenship in a modem society. Recognizing that the responsibility for public education <br />in our country is that of the states, the Association believes that adequate state resources <br />must insure equal access to the Basic Education Program for all North Carolina children. <br />The Association supports a continued Federal role in the funding of educational services. <br />The Association further believes that citizen control of public schools is essential to <br />guarantee continued widespread understanding and support for this major responsibility <br />of government: the education of its people. <br />Joint cooperative action between boazds of county commissioners and local school boards <br />is essential to the successful delivery of excellent public education. The free exchange of <br />information and ideas among the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, <br />the North Carolina School Boards Association, and the North Cazolina Department of <br />Public Education is likewise necessary to promote understanding of the variety and <br />complexity of issues related to public education. <br />Clarifying State and County Financial Responsibility <br />The division of responsibility between the state and counties for financing public school <br />needs, which was established by the General Assembly in 1933, became blurred during <br />the yeazs which followed. In 1.984, the General Assembly adopted the Basic Education <br />Program, which purports that the state provide resources for a high quality basic <br />education for all North Cazolina children. State legislation also has called for the <br />clarification and encourages efforts to secure legislation which fully reflects this concept <br />and the following realities: <br />• The rightful guarantee of equal access to high quality basic educational opportunities <br />for every child in North Carolina; <br />• The limitation of county government revenue sources and the need for additional <br />sources of revenue at the coon level.; <br />• The impacts of changing technologies on basic educational needs and the job market <br />in the future; and <br />