On Dec. 13, Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. said that the state of North Carolina should give public schools most of the money.

In 2005, the state Supreme Court ruled that the proceeds from the fines weren’t being given to public schools as state law requires. The court sent the case back to Manning to decide how much should be distributed.

The amount of money under consideration could be as much as $768 million, and, under state law, must be used by school systems to purchase new computers.

Person County Schools Supt. Dr. Larry W. Cartner said this week, “We can certainly use those funds to increase opportunities for our students. However, we must remember that there is a five-to-six-year payout frame. With the changes in technology and the ever-increasing costs of remaining current, that could be an issue.”

Manning has not yet issued an order but has said he plans to do so in January, Cartner said. And, according to Cartner, Manning has indicated that every school district should get a fair share of the funds based on average daily membership (ADM) of students, or enrollment.

“We have not been given an amount per student that could come from the $768 million dollars,” Cartner said Wednesday. “However, the state has indicated those funds will go to technology needs.” >>

Cartner said he was “very pleased that Judge Manning ruled that all 115 school systems will get a portion of the funds. I was concerned when the Attorney General’s Office argued that the funds should only be given to the six original plaintiffs.”

The original plaintiffs are Wake, Durham, Johnston, Buncombe, Edgecombe and Lenoir.

“The big question that still looms large for all school districts is whether the fines and forfeitures collected before late 1997 will go only to the six original plaintiffs,” Cartner said.

Wake, Durham and Johnston joined with the North Carolina School Boards Association in a 1998 lawsuit, arguing that all civil fines and penalties paid to state agencies should be given to public schools according to the state constitution.

Criminal fines collected across the state already go to primary and secondary schools in North Carolina. The 2005 Supreme Court ruling expanded the types of civil fines that must be handed over to the school.

Manning said that all districts are entitled to the money withheld between the time the General Assembly created the statewide fines and forfeitures fund in September 1997 and when the court ruling was handed down in July 2005.

The judge said he wasn’t sure if just the six districts that sued should be entitled to the fines collected between Jan. 1, 1996 and Sept. 1, 1997.

There is also the matter of how much state agencies will take out of the total $768 million for collection fees.

It has been argued in Person County Schools for several years that technology needs here are great.

In a PowerPoint presentation that he has shared with parents, teachers and county commissioners, Cartner has noted that today’s students can’t be taught using the same methods their parents were exposed to. Today’s youth, one of Cartner’s slides proclaims, are digital learners who are accustomed to multimedia. They must know how to find and manipulate data and analyze data and images.

Instead of the old lecture-and-listen teaching, Cartner told The C-T, after sharing the presentation with the newspaper, students today need to do more hands-on learning and incorporate their technology skills into the classroom.

Person County Board of Education Chairman Gordon Powell said this week, regarding Manning’s declaration that the criminal fines money should be spent on technology in the state’s schools, that, if and when Person County Schools gets its share, it would certainly help both teaching and learning for the 21st Century.

He said the money might help, statewide, put needed emphasis on technology education.