Editorial: Education Department Scrutiny Reeks

From The Oklahoman ~ An answer to the question of whether state schools Superintendent Janet Barresi can keep two employees who were rejected by the state Board of Education last month can't come soon enough.

Next week, the board has its second meeting under Barresi's direction. A repeat of January's theatrics would be unacceptable, although an encore performance would hardly be a surprise.

Barresi has kept chief of staff Jennifer Carter and communications director Damon Gardenhire as her personal employees by paying them with private donations through a foundation that wants to support education reform efforts.

Barresi said the board's rejection of the employees, and the protests that paying them with private money might be illegal, have slowed her efforts to transform the department.

Too bad the protests are so blatantly disingenuous and politically tinged. Two board members in particular, Tim Gilpin and Herb Rozell, each Democratic Party stalwarts, led the fight against approving the hires. Now Sen. Andrew Rice, D-Oklahoma City, has asked the Republican attorney general to review of the pay arrangement made by a Republican superintendent.

A little homework on the part of Education Department employees found that in the last five years under former Superintendent Sandy Garrett, a Democrat, the state board never rejected a proposed hire. The vast majority of employees were only brought before the board after they had been hired or weren't subject to any board review.

Read the entire editorial at http://newsok.com/education-department-scrutiny-reeks-of-politics/article/3541682#ixzz1EIn1oynN.

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