Judge rules Bevin can reorganize education boards, but he went too far with one

A circuit judge ruled Wednesday that Gov. Matt Bevin can reorganize state education boards when the legislature is not in session, but his restructuring of the board that creates standards for teachers was unconstitutional.

In a nine-page ruling, Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate said state law authorizes the governor to reorganize Kentucky’s education boards when the legislature is not in session, but state lawmakers must later approve any changes for the reorganization to become permanent.

Wingate, however, said the changes Bevin made this summer to the Education Professional Standards Board “exceed reorganization and result in creating additional operations. This exceeds the governor’s authorized reorganization power.”

In addition to reorganizing the board, the judge said, Bevin created a new appellate procedure that requires teachers to appeal the board’s decisions to the state Board of Education prior to filing a lawsuit.

“The imposition of completely new appellate procedures exceeds the governor’s power and violates the Kentucky Constitution,” Wingate said.

Attorney General Andy Beshear, a Democrat, filed the lawsuit to challenge the Republican governor’s executive order on June 2 to reorganize several education boards.

Both sides claimed victory Wednesday evening, though Beshear indicated he will appeal the ruling.

“We are pleased the court reaffirmed the governor’s power to reorganize executive branch agencies by upholding the governor’s June 2, 2017 executive order establishing a Charter School Advisory Council, adding members to the Kentucky Board of Education, and establishing and restructuring several other education boards,” Bevin spokeswoman Amanda Stamper said in a written statement. “The court shot down Attorney General Beshear’s politically motivated arguments that he has repeatedly raised over the last two years.”

Concerning the governor’s changes to the professional standards board, Stamper said “we respect the court’s ruling that this change was not appropriate for a reorganization order and expect the General Assembly to address the issue in 2018.”

Beshear called the decision “a victory for teachers and families as the trial court ruled that the governor violated Kentucky’s Constitution by attempting to control and change the certification and disciplinary process for Kentucky’s school teachers.”

“I believe the Kentucky Supreme Court will find the governor broke more laws when this matter is appealed,” Beshear said in a written statement. “The governor simply cannot rewrite law through executive order.”

Beshear told Bevin on June 7 that he thought the reorganization order was illegal and gave the governor one week to rescind the order.

Nine days later, Bevin issued a new order to rescind and supersede his first order.

It created the Charter Schools Advisory Council, altered the Standards and Assessments Process Review Committee’s membership, modified the Council on Postsecondary Education to guarantee that a citizen member is a non-voting, non-member adviser to the state Board of Education, and changed the state Board of Education to include four new non-voting members.

The order also restructured a council on school curriculum and reorganized several other education boards.

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Judge rules Bevin can reorganize education boards, but he went too far with one."