RALEIGH, N.C. -- The State Board of Education met Tuesday to discuss recent legislation that takes away power from the board and transfers it to the new Republican State Superintendent-elect Mark Johnson, who starts his new job, next month.

The board quickly went into closed session to discuss House Bill 17, which outgoing Republican Governor Pat McCrory has signed into law.

Leann Winter with the State School Board Association, said, " We're very interested in seeing how this plays out.   It could determine I think going forward the relationship between the State Board of Education and the General Assembly, and also the State Board of Education, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction."

The board's members declined to comment at the end of the meeting.

The new law, which the Republican dominated General Assembly passed in a special session last week, gives the new superintendent more flexibility in managing the state's education budget, more authority to dismiss senior level employees, control of the Office of Charter Schools and the ability to choose the leader of the new Achievement School District, which will oversee some of the lowest-performing schools in the state.