Education panel seeks shift in power

BOISE – The Senate Education Committee wants Gov. Butch Otter to strip some power from the state Board of Education and give it to the Department of Education, according to a letter made public Friday.

The recommendations are meant to help remedy problems that arose last year at the agency that oversees Idaho public schools, including a financial meltdown and allegations of open-meetings law violations.

There’s also a separate letter to trustees urging them to make additional changes, like annually reviewing open meetings laws and spending procedures to make sure they’re followed.

The letters, likely the Senate Education Committee’s final action on a matter that dominated several of its hearings in the 2008 Legislature, underscore its members’ contention that the board in recent years has overstepped its constitutional mandate and needs to be reined in. Last year, the agency flubbed an $18 million federal grant, nearly losing it, then violated state accounting standards to pay for test contracts that saddled it with a $1.4 million deficit.

“We don’t believe operational administration of programs should be with the state board,” said Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow and a frequent critic of the Board of Education. “The state board, as the constitution says, should have general supervision of education.”

The letter asks Otter to appoint a transition team to shift administrative duties, including oversight of federal grants, back to the Department of Education. It also asks Otter to review agencies now overseen by the board to determine whether changes in their leadership are needed.

The committee also wants Otter to consider an arrangement in which the governor would appoint the president of the board’s trustees. While trustees are currently appointed by the governor, the trustees themselves choose a president for a one-year term.

“It is the feeling of the Education Committee that the effectiveness and accountability of the board would improve if the chief executive could remove a president,” the Senate Education Committee wrote.

Otter, who has already indicated he will make unspecified changes at the agency, hadn’t seen the committee’s letter by Friday afternoon and declined comment on whether he’ll follow any of its recommendations.

In the separate letter to board trustees, the Senate panel urged them to plan an annual review to make sure they don’t violate state laws and policies.

The Education Committee also told trustees it wants them to set an attendance standard for members at meetings.

That recommendation appeared directed, at least in part, at trustee Blake Hall, who conceded at a Feb. 28 hearing held to review last year’s problems that he missed several meetings in 2007 and wasn’t completely aware of the magnitude of the crisis until December, when the agency was forced to cancel some testing to save money.