SB 1 Conference Committee report makes major changes from original bill
04/27/2015
The conference committee for SB 1 met Monday morning to present a draft version of its report on SB 1. The report departs from previous versions of SB 1 by adding new language giving the State Board of Education new authority now under the Department of Education. The draft language also changes the date when the board will elect its chair to January 2017.
Despite the major changes, committee Chairman Sen. Travis Holdman announced that he would not allow any public testimony. He later told reporters that his decision was based on a “time crunch.”
New authorities for the state board
The conference committee report would provide new authority and roles to the board’s staff under new language inserted into the bill. Among them is codifying the board as a state education authority for purposes of allowing the board to direct data to be shared with its staff that is now being administered by the Department of Education. What data this could be, including teacher data, would be determined by the state board itself. The state board’s staff would also take on the authority of many facets of administering the ISTEP program, including such detailed workings as establishing criteria for content and passing scores. This work is currently being done by the DOE.
Democrats on the conference committee expressed concern over this new language as it goes against long standing practice of not introducing new language that was not heard by the House or Senate in their versions of the bill.
The report provides the state board with an executive director who may hire staff to carry out the duties of the board. This will no doubt be necessary in order to fulfill the board’s new roles currently being done by the DOE.
Chair of the board change moves to January 2017
Departing from previous versions of SB 1, the conference committee report changes the effective date for the state board to elect its chair. This change would begin in January 2017. This avoids the controversial change of removing the Superintendent as chair of the board in the middle of Superintendent Ritz’s term.
Board composition gets a dramatic change
The state board’s composition would see substantial changes under the conference committee report. The number of members would shrink from 11 members to nine. Six members would remain appointed by the governor. However two members would come from the legislature with one appointed by the Senate Pro Tem and the other by the Speaker of the House. The appointees cannot be members of the legislature. The governor’s appointees will be broken down into state appeals court districts, rather than the current congressional districts. None of the members would be required to have public school experience. The changes would take effect June 1, 2015.
The conference committee will be in recess where more changes to the report could be made, as well as members removed in order to get the required signatures of all members approving the report. A meeting for a final vote will take place before Wednesday’s deadline.
A copy of the SB 1 Conference Committee Report can be read here.