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RALEIGH — Even though he was snowbound in Washington, Education Secretary Arne Duncan was playing to the crowd Monday at the Raleigh Civic and Convention Center.

Speaking by video conference to the Institute on Emerging Issues’ annual forum about the federal agency he leads, Duncan said that too much emphasis had been placed on audits and “making sure all our boxes are checked” rather than helping students learn.

“We want to change the business we’re in from being a compliance-driven bureaucracy to becoming the engine of innovation,” Duncan said.

Creativity and innovation are the themes of this year’s conference. As such, audience members were particularly keen on hearing about the administration’s “Race to the Top” program, which is supposed to encourage school systems to strike out in new directions to find ways to boost student achievement.

The grant funding, about $4 billion for the current round, will be distributed based on a competition among the states. One item that has nagged at North Carolina’s application is the state’s charter school law.

Charter schools are privately operated but publicly funded. North Carolina caps the number of charter schools allowed at 100, and advocates say that cap should be lifted. They also say that the state’s pursuit of Race to the Top funds could be stymied because of the law.

An audience member asked Duncan about this Monday.

“I think your state has done a great job,” Duncan said. “Good charter schools are a piece of the answer, bad charter schools are a piece of the problem. What we want is more innovation. So charter schools are one way to innovate. You can have traditional schools that are highly innovative, magnet programs, gifted programs, you name it. Charters don’t begin to have the monopoly on innovation.”

Mixed reviews

President Barack Obama’s federal budget proposal opened to mixed reviews last week.

As you might expect, Democrats were more kind toward the plan than Republicans. A sampling of opinions among local representatives:

Sen. Kay Hagan: “I am glad that President Obama has recognized the need to rein in our growing federal deficit. I support his plan to establish a fiscal commission to provide recommendations for balancing our budget.”

Rep. Virginia Foxx: “This budget lacks the sort of accountability Americans want from Washington. It contains more spending, more debt and more taxes, which will not restore our economy or help unemployed North Carolinians find work.”

Votes

In the Senate last week, the only recorded votes related to the nomination of two administration officials. The week before, the Senate confirmed Ben Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve System’s board of governors. Although his confirmation passed on a 70-30 vote, there was much debate over how well the Fed chairman handled the nation’s fiscal crisis.

Both Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, and Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, voted to confirm Bernanke.

The House voted 233-187 last week to restore pay-as-you-go rules, an attempt to curtail spending in the federal budget.

Although there are plenty of exceptions, proponents say the rules helped create the budget surpluses of the 1990s.

Democrats, who control the House and Senate, attached the rules to an increase in the national debt limit. That prompted every Republican in the chamber to vote against the measure, according to statements by GOP leaders.

Democrats Brad Miller of Raleigh and Mel Watt of Charlotte voted for the measure.

Reps. Howard Coble of Greensboro and Virginia Foxx of Banner Elk, both Republicans, voted against.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com