No Appeal

Attorney General Roy Cooper's office will not appeal a Superior Court judge's decision that State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson has the legal authority to run the state education agency, according to a spokeswoman for Cooper's office. Gov. Beverly Perdue had hired Bill Harrison to run the state Department of Public Instruction, going around Atkinson, who had twice won statewide elections for state superintendent. Atkinson, a Democrat, hired former state Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, a Republican who runs the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, to fight the decision in court. She sued Perdue and the State Board of Education, and won. Cooper's office said immediately after the Superior Court ruling in July that it would appeal. But the office decided last month not to, said spokeswoman Noelle Talley. Harrison said he told Perdue soon after the decision that he thought an appeal would be distracting. He retired from the paid job of state education CEO, though he is still the school board chairman. (THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 10/12/09).