At its August 1 meeting, the Arizona State Board of Education moved to further prevent the public from participating in its policy making. Board members voted to empower ad hoc committees to develop policies that will govern the State’s schools including teacher certification.
Before they voted to grab those powers, the Board voted to change its rulemaking policy to allow the closure of rulemaking at Special Meetings despite conflicting interpretations by Attorney General staff of the rules governing the Board.
The vote on the rule regarding the establishment of the ad hoc committees was 7-3, with Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, Jared Taylor and Chuck Schmidt voting no. Each explained their vote by saying they were not comfortable having only two members of the Board make appointments to those committees without further Board consideration.
Their concerns are warranted. At the June 27 Board meeting, Board member Tim Carter inquired of the Board’s Attorney General Counsel, Kim Anderson, for advice on the rulemaking process being discussed. Anderson told the Board that second/final rulemaking meetings must occur during a Regular Meeting of the Board, and that therefore the August 1 Special Meeting would not work for that purpose. She explicitly stated that as a result there would not be a way to close the rulemaking process before the effective date of the legislation driving the rule change, August 6, because the next Regular Meeting in this case would be August 22.
At the August 1 meeting, Anderson then changed her opinion and claimed that the Board was exempt.
The August 1 votes granted the President of the Board, and Vice-president incredible power in the development of the new A-F Accountability system, K-3 Reading, and teacher certification/disciplinary actions.
For years, the secretive Board has taken steps to limit the public’s engagement in the rule-making, standards development, and accountability processes. So the Board’s action did not come as a surprise to many.
According to her spokesman Charles Tack, Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas voted against the changes due to concerns with the ad hoc committees because their members will be fully appointed by an “Executive Committee” consisting only of the Board President and Vice President. The Board as a whole will not now have the opportunity to vote on those appointments.
The Board will now be able to open and close rulemaking at any meeting, including Special Meetings. As a result, “that will likely mean fewer opportunities for public input because Special Meetings are not as widely known among the general public,” according to Tack.