Email
Hanna Skandera
The highly-anticipated confirmation hearing for New Mexico Public Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera has become a miniseries of sorts.
After listening to five hours of public testimony today, the Senate Rules Committee adjourned its meeting without taking a vote on Skandera.
Committee chairwoman Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, told reporters the confirmation hearing will be resumed sometime next week. However, the committee is scheduled to deal with other matters on Monday, she said.
Today’s hearing was moved to the Senate floor, due to an overflow crowd that started filling Capitol hallways more than an hour before the hearing was set to begin.
Dozens of educators, many of them affiliated with teachers unions, urged committee members to vote against Skandera’s confirmation today.
On the other side, numerous business leaders and several school superintendents spoke in support of Skandera, who has headed up the state’s public education system for the last two years but has not yet had a confirmation hearing.
For more background, check out my colleague Hailey Heinz’s story from today’s paper here.
And look for more details on today’s hearing — including reaction from Skandera — in the Sunday Journal.
-- Email the reporter at dboyd@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-992-6281
