Greitens' education board appointee gets a nod from a Senate Committee
The Poplar Bluff insurance agent who last year voted to fire Missouri's commissioner of education gained Senate committee approval in his effort to land a seat on the state's education board.
The committee at a hearing on Wednesday voted 6 to 3 in favor of Eddy Justice moving on in the process toward getting a seat with the Missouri State Board of Education. The vote came down along party lines, with the three Democrats on the committee voting against.
Justice said on Thursday that he expects to go before the full Senate next week. He needs a confirmation from the Senate to serve on the state board.
Justice is the first of five people appointed to sit on the state education board last year by Gov. Eric Greitens, to get a Senate hearing. All five of the appointments were made during months of political maneuvering by Greitens in an attempt to seat a board that would agree to fire Margie Vandeven, who served as commissioner.
During that time, Greitens made 10 different appointments to the eight-member board before getting the five — a board majority — who ultimately would oust Vandeven. Among his appointments, one was ineligible and withdrew, one refused the appointment, two were withdrawn by the governor, one resigned and five remained on the board to vote.
In December, Greiten's five appointees, including Justice, voted to fire Vandeven. Three other board members opposed the firing of the commissioner but were out-voted.
Justice said at the time that he voted in favor of the firing because he believes the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education needs to move "in a new direction," to tackle education challenges, such as boosting inadequate reading proficiency levels.
Shortly after the vote on the first day of Missouri's 2018 legislative session, Greitens withdrew and then reappointed the five board members he had most recently appointed.
He said the move was made in an effort to give the Senate more time to evaluate and vote on the appointments. Because all five had been appointed during a legislative recess the Senate would have had only 30 days to act on their confirmation. Greiten's action gave the Senate the full length of the session to review his appointments. The current session ends in nearly five weeks.
Greitens' maneuvering, however, left the Missouri Board of Education with only three voting members. Without a quorum the state board has been unable to conduct any official business.
Justice said on Thursday that during his hearing committee members questioned him for about 40 minutes and asked whether he had a particular agenda he wanted to carry out as a member of the board. "I said no."
He said he was, however, concerned about getting a voting board in place soon, particularly to handle the revocation of some teacher licenses, since the state board of education is the only agency with authority to pull a bad-teacher's license.
Justice said he recently learned of a teacher in the state who was fired for having inappropriate sexual conduct with a student, but that teacher continues to hold a teaching license, because the state board currently has no voting power.
"This is a serious matter," Justice said. "This teacher can go anywhere and still teach. That puts our children in danger."
If Justice and the other four Greitens' appointees are not confirmed by the Senate before the end of the session, they could be banned for life from ever serving on the Missouri State Board of Education.
In February, the Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard told members of the media that he expected the appointees to be declined. But on Wednesday he voted for Justice.
If appointees are not confirmed but instead are passed back to the governor, they could be reappointed or new appointments could be made, said Charlie Shields, president of the state board. Appointments made out of session would be allowed to serve and vote until January.
"I feel confident that we will have a full board in place by our June meeting," Shields said.
In the meantime with only three voting members, the board is stalled in any efforts to find or hire a new leader of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. For now, the state's deputy commissioner of education, Roger Dorson, is serving as interim commissioner.
This story was originally published April 12, 2018 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Greitens' education board appointee gets a nod from a Senate Committee."