On Friday  the Senate Education Committee will have a hearing regarding three nominees for the State Board of Education – the one and only BOE in the entire state of Hawaii.

These nine people set policy for all our public schools. The nominees are Hubert P. Minn, Lance A. Mizumoto and Margaret Cox.

I have asked that the Senate approve Gov. David Ige’s nominations for new Board of Education members only if they are willing to work toward improving DOE and BOE openness, transparency, responsiveness, and public involvement. This is a crucial value system our State BOE members must possess if we are going to be able to build a world-class education system.

Katherine Poythress/Civil Beat

How can the Senate evaluate each nominee’s ability and willingness to implement an open model of BOE/DOE operations? Between now and the Friday EDU Committee Hearing, there is little time to ask the candidates to submit their plans for improving BOE operations to make the Board more available and responsive to the public. So, I suggested a simple test by having the EDU Committee ask each candidate:

“Will you support video recordings of BOE meetings made available to the public on the BOE web site within 5 days after each meeting?”

A candidate who is unwilling to support this simple yet necessary change is not someone who should be appointed to the BOE.

We Need at Least One Post Act 51 Teacher on the Board

Another crucial point I’d like to make about the composition of the BOE is diversity. I do not mean racial diversity, though that is desirable, too. I mean diversity in expertise and experience that will fill some gaping holes.

It is alarming that there is not one person on the appointed Board of Education who has experience teaching in a post-NCLB public elementary or middle school in Hawaii. This would mean someone who was in the classroom, on the front lines dealing with education “reform” in a public school after NCLB was enacted nationally (2001), and after Act 51 was enacted in Hawaii (2004). A good candidate would be someone who retired from teaching sometime after 2009 and thus has the time to devote to the BOE and a firm grasp of the reality of our public education system today.

I have no doubt there is a good candidate out there who fits this description, and I have a strong suspicion that the governor and his staff did little if anything to proactively go out and find such a candidate. From their resumes, none of the nominees seem to have this experience.

More Diversity, Less Bankers

Regarding Mr. Mizumoto’s appointment. While experience in finance is valuable skill for at least one Board member, the BOE already has a banker on the Board, Chair Don Horner, whose Board membership doesn’t expire until 2017.

Two bankers who never worked in Hawaii’s public schools on a small Board of only nine people is one banker too many. We need greater diversity of experience on the BOE.

The overwhelming influence of First Hawaiian Bank is also a concern. Mr. Mizumoto was a vice president for the First Hawaiian Bank; Don Horner is the retired CEO of First Hawaiian Bank. I don’t think two people who’ve worked for the same powerful organization should simultaneously sit on the Board of Education no matter what the organization is. This is not diversity.

Tell the Senate How You Feel

Send your testimony to the Senate EDU Committee before the Friday hearing by emailing edutestimony@capitol.hawaii.gov.

I hope others will ask the Senate EDU committee:

• Please do not approve any nominee to the Board of Education who is unwilling to work toward greater BOE/DOE transparency and public accountability.

• Please do not approve Mr. Mizumoto’s appointment to the Board of Education.

• Please ask the Governor to bring to the Senate and the People of Hawaii a candidate who was an elementary or middle school teacher in a Hawaii public school teacher as of 2009 or later.