More State Board Excitement
Exciting (or even interesting) is not a word that is often applied to the State Board of Education, but an article in today’s Columbus Dispatch did raise a few eyebrows.
As we mentioned previously, it seems that Governor Strickland’s staff failed to file the required paperwork to finalize Martha Harris’ appointment to the State Board of Education.
Is she staying or leaving?
Nobody is saying, but it seems that Martha Harris’ days on the Ohio Board of Education are numbered.
Suspense about Harris’ status is building in the days approaching the board’s monthly meeting next week. Caught in a paperwork snafu and a change in administrations, Harris is in a state of limbo.
State education officials say Harris, who has been on the board two years and is one of only two blacks on the 19-member board, contends that she remains an appointed member of the panel and plans to attend the meeting.
“At this point we are waiting for clarification … she still feels that she is part of the board,” said Patrick Galloway, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education.
Gov. John Kasich’s administration isn’t sure.
“We are still talking about what our next step should be,” said Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols.
But sources with knowledge of those discussions say Harris, a retired special-education teacher from Cleveland Heights, will be replaced on the board before its two-day meeting in Columbus, which starts Monday. It would be Kasich’s sixth appointment to the board since taking office last month.
The Kasich appointment will be closely watched following heavy criticism from black lawmakers and Democrats about his failure to appoint more minorities to top positions.
Harris’ standing on the board was thrown into doubt last month when it was revealed that former Gov. Ted Strickland’s office failed to submit to the Senate Clerk’s office the necessary paperwork for her appointment.
Senate Clerk Vincent L. Keeran said his office never received the paperwork nor was Harris confirmed by the Senate. Since her appointment was never submitted or confirmed, Kasich can fill the seat.
Harris will be the second Strickland appointee to lose her job because the former administration failed to submit the timely paperwork to the Senate. Cathy Collins Taylor lost her job as head of the Department of Public Safety when the Strickland administration submitted paperwork six months after her appointment and the Senate rejected it.
Harris did not return a message left at her home seeking comment.
Board President Robin C. Hovis of Millersburg reportedly met with officials in the state attorney general’s office today to discuss the issue. He did not return messages left on his cell phone seeking comment, and Eve Mueller, spokesman for Attorney General Mike DeWine, said she could not comment on any advice that might have been given to a client.
Another issue to be sorted out is whether votes cast by Harris at the board’s January meeting are valid. If not, board elections – in which Hovis was elected president by a single-vote margin – could be tossed.
The Board of Education consists of 11 elected members and eight appointed by the governor. Hovis, an elected member, defeated a Kasich appointee by a vote of 10-9.
Votes were cast by secret ballot, so it’s not known how Harris voted, but with another Kasich appointee in her place, Hovis might be replaced.
What I can not figure out is why no one at the Ohio Department of Education ever raised the issue of Ms. Harris’ appointment. When individuals are elected or appointed to the State Board, they come with paperwork which confirms they are eligible to be seated as a board member. (I recall submitting my certificate of election from the Ohio Secretary of State as well as a copy of my passport confirming I was who I said I was.) It’s been two years since Governor Strickland announced appointments. Even if no one at ODE caught the lack of documentation, shouldn’t someone have asked about a confirmation hearing that never took place?
The State Board meets next week on Monday and Tuesday.
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