Education Week - March 30, 2016 - 19

State Boards Seek Assertive Role in Setting ESSA-Era Policy
"It's simply a matter of legislators
wanting to improve the outcome for
kids," said Jennifer Thomsen, a research fellow with the Education
Commission of the States, which
tracks education legislation and
includes state legislators among
its commissioners. "Education is a
hot topic, and they hear from their
constituents a lot. There's a certain
amount of, 'We can't do nothing, we
have to try something.' "
Rep. Reginald Bolding, a Democrat who serves on Arizona's House
education committee, said legislators
want to weigh in on education policy
because so much of the state's budget
is spent on education.
"We want to have more control over
the largest budget area," Bolding
said.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

week.) In Georgia, lawmakers passed
a bill that would ban the board from
accepting any federal money above
$10 million without the legislature's
permission. It was punishment, the
state board chairman said, for the
board accepting millions of dollars in
federal Race to the Top funds. As of
last week, Republican Gov. Nathan
Deal hadn't signed it.
On the other hand, a bill in Arizona sought to remove most of the
state education department's staff
and place the workers under the
board's authority. It was defeated in
the House last week.

Board members, who convene in
Washington next week for their legislative conference, argue that they
are in a unique position to set state
education agendas in the ESSA era.
With many state education departments hollowed out by budget cuts
and the average tenure of state superintendents now three years, state
boards argue that they represent
a permanent fixture focused exclusively on statewide education policy.
"Our perspective is a statewide
perspective," Mike Royal, the chairman of Georgia's state board of
education, said last week as state
lawmakers worked to wrap up their
legislative session.
But state superintendents and legislators can have very different viewpoints.
"Our board meets maybe 10 times
a year for two to four hours. Many
of them are laypeople," said Arizona
schools Superintendent Diane Douglas, who has sued her board, accusing
it of overstepping its authority. The
board in turn has also sued Douglas.
"They're tasked with overseeing
policy, but they're not the ones who
are in the fields of Arizona each and
every day to know what the needs of
educators are."
But Arizona board member Tim
Carter said that the board's role as
the chief policymaker is enshrined in
the state's constitution and that the
lawsuits have ground the productivity of the department to a halt.
"Anytime you have one group that
makes the policy and the other group
that's responsible for carrying out the
policy, those two things have to be in
sync with one another," said Carter,
who is also the superintendent of
Arizona's Yavapai County schools. "I
think it's clear that we haven't been
working as efficiently as we could."
The board members who meet in
Washington aim to map out a strategy to handle the new policy environment under ESSA. They'll discuss
building community support, learn
how to craft their own accountability
systems, and hear from U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr.
"There's tremendous optimism, but
[our members] are also nervous," said
Kristen Amundson, the executive director of the National Association of
State Boards of Education. "Now's
our time to set a strategy and a vision
to create equity, high standards, and
hold educators accountable."

Photos by Bob Christie/AP

Unique Position

FROM TOP: Arizona State
Sens. Kimberly Yee, center,
and Sylvia Allen watch as
Sen. Jeff Dial explains his
support for legislation
clarifying the powers of
the state school board and
the state superintendent.
The proposal, which
ultimately died in the
legislature, was opposed
by Superintendent
of Public Instruction
Diane Douglas, left,
who testified against it.

Over the past several years, the
membership of state boards has
become younger and more diverse,
Amundson said. While, in the past,
sitting on a state board was the
crown jewel for an accomplished
educator, board members now range
from bankers, lawyers, and doctors to
outspoken parents.

Influence on Display
Board members in 35 states are
appointed by either governors or legislatures, and in eight states, they're
elected. In six states, board members
are a mix of elected and appointed.
(Minnesota doesn't have a board of
education.)
State board members' influence
was on display in New York last
week when newly appointed board of
regents Chancellor Betty Rosa added
fuel to the debate about parents opting their children out of standardized
tests by saying she'd do so, too, if she
were a parent.
Residents in the East Texas region will soon decide whether to
elect to the state board Mary Lou
Bruner, a retired kindergarten
teacher who has said in widely
publicized Facebook posts that she
believes that a young President
Barack Obama worked as a gay
prostitute, that the country should
ban Muslims, and that the Demo-

cratic Party killed President John
F. Kennedy.
In many instances, though, board
members are inconspicuous stewards
convening in sparsely attended, dayslong meetings where they debate
education policy.
The ESSA law adds plenty more
to their plate. In the coming months,
boards will be tasked with revising
teacher evaluations, school report
cards, and ways to intervene in their
lowest-performing schools.
"For boards that have already been
engaged in the process and taking
responsibility and control of their
own house, they will be fine," said
Royal, the Georgia board chairman.
"But for the ones who have been
hands-off, they are going to have to
do some major catching up. Many are
going to have to make some, 'Ready,
aim, fire!' decisions."
According to research soon to be
released by NASBE, in at least 32
states, state boards have constitutional or statutory authority over
their state's assessments, while 45
state boards have authority over their
academic standards.
Legislators don't want to be left out
of the action, however: The National
Conference of State Legislatures
says more than 500 bills regarding
state standards and assessments
have been proposed across the country so far this year.

Now's our time
to set a strategy
and a vision to
create equity, high
standards, and
hold educators
accountable."
KRISTEN AMUNDSON
National Association of State
Boards of Education

Mixed Relationship
The relationship between legislators and boards can be tense.
"Some legislators write education
policy that comes from a philosophical
and ideological position rather than
a practical and knowledgeable one,"
said Jim McNiece, the chairman of
Kansas' school board."When we work
together, we listen to each other and
we can have a proactive conversation.
When we're not paying attention to
each other or we're trying to promote
some sort of ideology or take some political position, it doesn't work."
The Kansas board, along with its
recently appointed superintendent,
has gone on a statewide tour, interviewing more than 10,000 people to
create a vision plan for the state's department of education.
In Nebraska, after the state was
denied a waiver from the No Child
Left Behind Act, the legislature
in 2014 passed a bill that required
its education department to use an
accountability system that places
schools in "excellent," "great," "good"
or "needs improvement" categories.
The board fleshed the law out, specified indicators, and rolled out the
plan late last year.
"They're giving us guidance but
they're not micromanaging us," said
state board member Rachel Wise. "I
think we have a pretty good balance."
In Georgia, the board members,
who are appointed by the governor,
serve seven-year terms. Some are entering their second term.
That tenure has helped the board
withstand the turnover of superintendents who have cycled through
the department, two in the past five
years alone.
Five years ago, the board decided
to focus on raising the state's cutoff
scores on standardized tests. Despite
schools' scores dipping and a widespread cheating scandal, the board
stuck with the standards.
"Once they set those expectations,
we were able to make decisions that
had moved [the state] forward," said
state Superintendent Richard Woods.
Coverage of policy, government and
politics, and systems leadership is
supported in part by a grant from by
the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.
Education Week retains sole editorial
control over the content of this coverage.

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