superintendent on the new State School Commission, which was responsible for educational financing. The commission was disbanded in 1943. That year, the constitution was amended to revise the composition of the State Board of Education, leaving the superintendent a member but adding several seats to be filled by appointment from the governor, imbuing the body with a rivalling political authority over education policy. Conflict between the superintendent and the rest of the board over the scope of their responsibilities became common in the 1960s and 1970s. A 1968 constitutional study commission recommended making the Board of Education responsible for the selection of the superintendent to reduce voters' burden by shortening the ballot, but this proposal was disregarded by the General Assembly when it rewrote the state constitution in 1971. The new constitution made the superintendent the secretary of the State Board of Education, thus removing the office's membership and voting power on the board. In 1987 another effort was made to make the office appointed by the board in an attempt to simplify governance of the state's educational system. The North Carolina Senate passed a constitutional amendment to that effect with the support of the governor and lieutenant governor but the bill was quashed in a House of Representatives committee. The following year the legislature empowered the superintendent to organize the structure of the Department of Public Instruction, spend its funds, and enter into relevant contracts in the course of its operations. As secretary to the State Board of Education, the superintendent was made responsible for expenditures related to the board's duties and for implementing its policy decisions. In the 1990s the Board of Education established the position of deputy superintendent and delegated direct management authority to them. School officials subsequently complained about a lack of clarity in the leadership of the Department of Public Instruction, and the Public School Forum of North Carolina dubbed the system a "four-head monster" under the competing authorities of the superintendent, deputy superintendent, the Board of Education, and the governor. In 1995 the General Assembly passed legislation transferring most of the superintendent's powers to the Board of Education. In 1997 the General Assembly again attempted to amend the constitution to remove the popular election of the superintendent, with the effort narrowly failing by two votes in the North Carolina House of Representatives. "Dual-reporting" positions within the Department of Public Instruction, which encompassed employees who