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RALEIGH (AP) — Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson will sue to attempt to regain her due authority as chief administrative officer of North Carolina's schools, a legal advocacy group said Thursday.

The North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law said Atkinson will file a lawsuit Friday challenging the constitutionality of actions by the executive and legislative branches that allegedly took away her power.

Atkinson didn't immediately return phone calls Thursday night, but she had hinted for several weeks she was considering litigation. The institute is led by former state Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr.

The last straw for Atkinson — elected to a second term as superintendent in last November's statewide election with nearly 2.2 million votes — apparently came in January when Gov. Beverly Perdue said she wanted her choice for chairman of the State Board of Education to become chief executive officer of the schools as well.

The state board elevated Bill Harrison, former superintendent of Cumberland County Schools, to both positions last month. Perdue said she wanted to consolidate power so that she and her appointees would become ultimately responsible for the state's nearly 1.5 million-student system.

Atkinson has few inherent powers thanks to rules approved over the years by both the Legislature and the board. Perdue said in January that Atkinson would remain an "ambassador" for the schools.

Atkinson asked legislative leaders earlier this year to either work to pass a law to restore authority to her job, give the governor complete control over the Department of Public Instruction or let voters decide in a constitutional referendum.

"The people and the children in this state deserved a governance system that is constitutional and one that does not mislead the public," Atkinson said March 23 at a legislative committee meeting.

Lawmakers have filed bills with statewide referenda to make the superintendent's post an appointed position or to abolish it.

The state constitution calls the superintendent the chief administrative officer of the board, whose voting members largely are appointed by the governor and are directed to supervise and administer the public schools.

Legislation approved in 1995 gave the board flexibility to craft the superintendent's job.

The power of the post has ebbed and flowed since then, depending on who was on the job. During Atkinson's first term, the board gave most of the day-to-day authority of the schools to a deputy superintendent.