Beshear says bill to undo his school board doesn’t help ‘change the tone in Frankfort’
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear does not like Republican Senate President Robert Stivers’ efforts to undo his remake of the Kentucky Board of Education.
His spokeswoman, Crystal Staley, called Stivers’ Senate Bill 10 “an attempt to strip away” Beshear’s powers as the new governor is “trying to change the tone in Frankfort.”
Stivers, miffed that Beshear on his first day in office last December created a new state education board with all Democrats, filed his bill Tuesday to block any similar reorganizations in the future.
Beshear had promised during his campaign to change the board, expressing concerns about its interest in setting up charter schools in Kentucky. Such schools receive government funding but operate independently of the established state school system.
Staley said the board Beshear set up is “the best qualified in recent memory,” noting that it includes a superintendent of the year, an inductee into the National Teaching Hall of Fame and a former president of the University of Kentucky.”
“In putting together the board, the governor has simply exercised the same authority that has been available to all previous governors,” she said, adding that the bill “does not help” in bringing better working relationships to state government.
Stivers, who predicted that the Republican-controlled Senate, will act quickly on the bill, said it would keep future governors from making such sweeping changes in the board’s makeup. It would require political, gender and racial diversity on the board that oversees education in Kentucky’s pubic schools from kindergarten to grade 12.
Stivers, R-Manchester noted that his bill would mean that the Senate would not confirm Beshear’s appointments to the board but they could be reconsidered for reappointment.
However, 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.
Stivers also questioned if Beshear is trying to change the tone in Frankfort “when he put 11 Democrats on the board and didn’t look to any input from anybody else.”
He said Beshear, when attorney general, had issues with former Gov. Matt Bevin’s making changes in the education board.
Current Kentucky board chair David Karem, a Democrat from Louisville, said Tuesday night he had not yet seen Stivers’ bill.
The Kentucky Education Association, which backed Beshear for governor, said in a statement, “The Kentucky Board of Education should be made up of members who have experience, knowledge and a bedrock background in public education. Eight of the eleven current members appointed by Gov. Beshear have direct and extensive experience in public education, and perfectly reflect the governor’s desire to make that a qualifying characteristic.
“The board should be education focused, not politically motivated.”
KY120 United, an educators’ group that arose over concerns about teachers’ pension, called the bill “petty.”
“Robert Stivers filed SB10 as an attempt to take away the governor’s power to reorganize the state Board of Education,” its statement said.
“This makes 10 such bills this session meant to strip power from the governor’s office. It seems to us, rather than be powerful as a super majority, Robert Stivers has set the new tone of leading by pettiness.
“If this was not a problem in the previous four years, when Republicans absolutely had the power and votes to change it, why start now? It must not have been that big of a problem. This seems like the political equivalent of taking your ball and going home. You can’t have it both ways, and if you were looking for a fight regarding who sits on that board, a board that thanks to our governor finally, truly cares about the commonwealth, and its most precious resource, its children, then you’ve got one.”
KY120 United asked of Stivers, “Please, for the sake of all of us, quit being petty and get back to serving actual Kentuckians and working to make their lives better.”
The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, which has been trying since 1983 to move Kentucky to the top tier of all states for education excellence, favors SB 10, said spokeswoman Jessica Fletcher.
“One of the goals of Kentucky’s commitments 30 years ago was to insulate education from politics. That commitment served us well and must be maintained.At the same time, Kentucky’s policy makers, from both sides of the aisle, must coalesce around a clear commitment to re-establishing Kentucky’s rightful place as a national leader in education —to increase student outcomes and close persistent achievement gaps with urgency,”said Brigitte Blom Ramsey, president and CEO of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.
Some of the members of the old state education board appointed by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin have sued, claiming Beshear exceeded his authority by removing them before their terms expired.
A series of state court judges left Beshear’s executive order intact. The former board members then took their case to federal court. U.S. District Judge Greg Tatenhove is reviewing their request for an emergency injunction that could restore the old board.
Since the new board took over, the state’s previous education commissioner, Wayne Lewis, resigned under pressure and the board is searching for a replacement.
This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 12:51 PM.
