Sixty of the 115 school districts in North Carolina allow teachers and adult staff members to hit children as a form of discipline.

That's prompted legislation about corporal punishment in schools that is now making its way through the General Assembly this year, passing a House committee last week.

The proposal by Rep. Martha Alexander would not abolish the practice, just add more notification and parental consent safeguards when a child is spanked at school. That's all the supporters of the bill thought they could get passed this year, and it will help some. But striking kids in school will continue as long as parents agree.

North Carolina is part of the minority of states that allow corporal punishment to be used as a form of discipline, and it doesn't look like that will change any time soon.

Opponents of spanking proposed a ban last session only to see it fail on the House floor after several members bragged about how much good corporal punishment did them when they were young.

Rep. Ronnie Sutton told his colleagues that when he was growing up, he was "beaten like a rented mule once or twice a week at school." He didn't mention that mules can't be beaten. They are protected by state animal cruelty laws.

But kids at school? -- That's another matter. Rep. John Blust played the role of Sutton Tuesday in the House committee debate, saying that be "benefitted immeasurably from the often-administered corporal punishment."

Blust said that taxpayers are asked year after year to educate kids and that it shouldn't be too much to ask for a high standard of conduct, apparently best encouraged by the threat of being hit by an adult. Tasers would work too. Imagine the order in the classroom.

Last session, officials with the North Carolina Association of Educators, the UNC School of Social Work and the North Carolina PTA all supported a corporal punishment ban. They talked about the culture created by corporal punishment administered by authority figures, the bad example it provides for kids, and the research that shows it is not an effective way to discipline children.

The same groups support Alexander's bill this session that would require school officials to make a "reasonable attempt" to notify a student's parents before administering corporal punishment. It also requires local school systems to report to the State Board of Education the number of times corporal punishment is used and demographic information about the students involved.

That was too much for Rep. Bonner Stiller, who claimed it would create a bookkeeping nightmare for local school officials. Stiller saw it all as a backdoor attempt to encourage school systems to abolish corporal punishment by adding more paperwork requirements.

It wasn't all head-scratching comments. Rep. Alexander made sense explaining the bill, and Rep. Melanie Goodwin injected some sanity into the discussion by reminding the committee that you can have a high standard of conduct for students without laying a hand on them.

The bill passed the committee and now goes to the House floor, where the debate is sure to be enlightening. House Minority Leader Paul Stam ended up supporting the proposal, but not before offering this pearl of wisdom for people understandably worried about children being injured by a spanking.

"To equate corporal punishment with hurting people is like saying that putting them in time out is like kidnapping them."

Stam earlier in the day railed about a sex education bill that recently passed the House. Apparently he is worried about adults other than a child's parents teaching him or her about sex. Other adults hitting kids is fine.

Maybe one day we'll join the 21st century. It's not likely to be this year.

Chris Fitzsimon writes for N.C. Policy Watch.