Education power struggle: Governor or state board

Monday, April 2, 2007 | 7:09 a.m.

For the past two years, state Board of Education members have loudly complained that there are too many committees, commissions and councils muddling oversight of the K-12 system - and that more responsibility should be shifted back to them.

Some lawmakers agree the existing structure is convoluted, but their solution for streamlining K-12 governance isn't what the state board had in mind.

Senate Bill 540, drafted by the Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections, would strip the Board of Education of its regulatory authority and authorize the governor to appoint the superintendent of public instruction, who now is appointed by the Board of Education.

The bill would address long-standing ambiguity over who is ultimately accountable for the success of Nevada's K-12 system, by handing the governor unprecedented control over education policy.

The state board's 10 members would continue to be elected, but the board would be reduced to an advisory council to the state Education Department and the governor's appointed superintendent. Three commissions - overseeing academic standards, educational technology and a grant fund for school improvement plans - would also become advisory councils.

Most of the oversight would be handled by a newly created office within the Department of Education with the officious title "Division of Accountability of Public Schools."

State Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, chairwoman of the committee that introduced the bill, said the overhaul is needed.

"We're trying to streamline and connect the 17 school districts so it's more compact," Cegavske said. "The way things are now, the governors don't feel connected to the educational process. They should be a part of that."

But Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said the bill is shortsighted.

"You're not just taking authority away from an elected body ; you're taking accountability away from the public," Titus said. "Education policy needs to be based on public input, and independent of whoever the governor is or what his political agenda might be."

Currently the state Board of Education sets policy for Nevada's 17 school districts. The board can suspend or revoke teacher licenses and is the conduit for federal education money awarded to Nevada.

Melissa Subbotin, press secretary for Gov. Jim Gibbons, said the proposed legislation, which was released March 26, was being reviewed.

Terry Hickman, president of the Nevada State Education Association, said he wasn't ready to comment about the bill.

Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction Keith Rheault could not be reached for comment.

Integral to the debate is a "structural flaw" in how Nevada's K-12 governance system is set up, wrote Pepper Strum, chief deputy research director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, in a memorandum prepared in connection with SB540.

The question boils down to: Who is responsible for executing education policy in Nevada - the state Board of Education or the governor?

That question is "most evident when the state board and the governor present very different education policy agendas to the Legislature each biennium," Strum wrote.

The disconnect was painfully evident this year, when the state's 17 superintendents chided Gibbons for not including any of their recommendations when he outlined his education priorities in his State of the State address. Gibbons wants to eliminate a $60 million fund that offers retirement credits to teachers and use the money for a statewide empowerment schools pilot study. The superintendents, along with the state Board of Education, back the $1 billion iNVest plan, which calls for full-day kindergarten for all students and more funding for English language learners, among other initiatives.

Gary Waters, who served for 12 years on the state Board of Education, said there have always been opportunities for governors to be more involved in the education process, but none has chosen to do so.

"In all the years I was there I never saw a governor make use of the board," Waters said. "They communicated with us very little, even though the board was always very supportive of the governors. It's a tragic mistake."

Much of the complex web of K-12 governance dates to 1997, with the passage of the Nevada Education Reform Act. Then-Gov. Bob Miller and lawmakers were frustrated by the glacial pace of education reform, and what was seen as an ineffective and unresponsive state board. The act created two appointed entities that shifted some responsibilities away from elected representatives.

In ensuing years other councils and committees were created, along with legislative entities that provide oversight and make recommendations.

"If anything, the state board should be doing a lot of things that have been reassigned to all these commissions and councils," said Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City. "I'd rather see us expend our energy on a study of the governance structure, and how we can improve it, before we do anything as radical as what's suggested in the Senate bill."

When it comes to its K-12 governance structure, Nevada is unusual, said Brenda Welburn, executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education in Alexandria, Va. In two-thirds of the states, the education board is appointed by the governor or other lawmakers, and the board in turn chooses the superintendent.

For state superintendents, the highest turnover is among those who are appointed by a governor, Welburn said.

"Gubernatorial appointees tend to be more politicized, rather than coming at the job from a strictly educational perspective," Welburn said.

In 2004 New Mexico changed its state education board to an elected advisory council. As a result, "nobody even ran for two of the seats," Welburn said. "Why would you spend money on a campaign for a seat that has no authority or power?"

The more effective state education boards are appointed by governors who choose "really good people regardless of party affiliation, really bright people who care about kids and schools," Welburn said.

If Nevada's lawmakers are dissatisfied with the performance of their state board, the answer isn't to strip it of power, Welburn said.

"To dilute the governance structure and take authority away is a cop-out," she said. "That isn't the way a constitutional system or a democracy is run."

The bill was presented for the first time March 26 , a day shy of the deadline for new legislation. It moves next to the Senate Finance Committee. Most lawmakers contacted by the Sun said they would withhold comment until they had an opportunity to fully review the 140-page bill.

Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, vice chairwoman of the Education Committee, said she would prefer to continue electing a state board with regulatory authority, and having it hire the superintendent.

"I think balance of power is very important," Smith said. "The way the bill is structured, it's all in the hands of the governor and superintendent.

"If the state education board is elected but has no power, and the power rests with the governor and his appointed superintendent, where does the accountability lie?"