Beshear’s new Ky. Board of Education could be gutted by this bill. It is moving forward.

Senate President Robert Stivers’ legislation that could gut Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s remake of the Kentucky Board of Education received approval from a legislative committee Thursday.

The Senate Education Committee approved Senate Bill 10, sending it to the full Senate for consideration. Stivers said after the hearing that the full Senate vote could happen next week.

“Sometimes we change laws because they are not good,” Stivers told his fellow lawmakers on the committee.

On Beshear’s first day in office in December, Beshear named a new state education board with all Democrats. Stivers’ bill would block similar reorganizations through executive order in the future.

Stivers has said that his bill would mean that the Senate would not confirm Beshear’s appointments to the board and that some of them, but not all, could be reconsidered for reappointment. Not all of Beshear’s appointments could be reappointed because of the bill’s requirement that the board would have a “proportional representation” of Democrats and Republicans.

According to the legislation, appointments to the board would also require equal representation of the two sexes, and reflect “the minority racial composition of the state.”

Stivers, R- Manchester, at Thursday’s committee hearing contended that the bill was not directed at Beshear and “does not penalize anyone on the board.”

“It creates gender, racial and political equity and that’s all it does,” he said.

In response to the committee approval, Beshear criticized what he called “a partisan attack.”

“Instead of focusing on the critical challenges facing Kentucky including being first in child abuse and neglect, our health care needs, or the investment we need to make in public education, a select group of legislators have now filed bill after bill after bill aimed at stripping me, the new Governor, of certain powers,” he said.

State Sen. Reggie Thomas, D-Lexington, at Thursday’s hearing, voted against the bill, saying Beshear had done nothing wrong and that his appointees were exceptional. He said Senate Bill 10 was “out of line.”

Retired teacher Lydia Coffey was among the people who spoke against the bill Thursday.

“If you look at the qualifications of this board,” Coffey said about the Beshear-appointed board, “they are probably the most highly qualified board we’ve ever had.”

After Stivers filed the legislation in February, Beshear’s spokeswoman, Crystal Staley said the new board members were the best qualified in recent history. They include award winning former educators, two former lawmakers, and a former University president.

This week, Senate Minority Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, filed Senate Bill 285, which would lead to the confirmation of the current board members, but calls for geographic, gender and racial diversity among Kentucky Board of Education members.

Stivers’ legislation is not the only attempt to stop the work of the new Kentucky Board of Education.

Some of the members of the former state education board appointed by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin have sued Beshear, saying Beshear exceeded his authority by removing them before their terms expired. But they have so far been unsuccessful in both state and federal court. Most recently, U.S. District Judge Greg Van Tatenhove denied an emergency injunction that could have restored the old board.

The new board appointed by Beshear is in the process of choosing a firm to conduct a national search for a new Kentucky education commissioner.

Wayne Lewis, who had been hired by the Bevin-appointed board, resigned under pressure after Beshear appointed his new board members. Prior to that, Stephen Pruitt resigned as education commissioner under pressure from board members appointed by Bevin and Lewis was hired without a national search.

This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 1:59 PM.