» Sens. grill Skandera for 3 hours

New Mexico Public Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera, with Sen. Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, appears before the Senate Rules Committee on Saturday during her confirmation hearing. (Eddie Moore/Journal)

SANTA FE — New Mexico Public Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera defended her job performance Saturday during sharp questioning in a key committee, but still no vote came in her prolonged and politically charged confirmation hearing.

After more than three hours of questioning by members of the Senate Rules Committee, Skandera was asked to provide more information. The hearing, which has already included more than seven hours of public testimony, was then quickly ended before additional action could be taken.

“I believe we still have a lot to digest,” said the committee’s chairwoman, Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque.

Adjournment of the 60-day legislative session comes Saturday. Lopez said the Skandera hearing will resume but did not set a date.

“We’ll fit it in,” she told reporters.

Skandera, who was appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez to head up the state’s public education system in January 2011, said she would provide the requested information but expressed frustration that no vote was taken on her nomination. The Rules Committee vote would be a recommendation to the full Senate.

“There seems to be a commitment to stall and delay,” Skandera told the Journal.

Democratic senators grilled Skandera about out-of-state travel paid for by nonprofit education groups and her decision to approve two charter school applications denied by the state’s Public Education Commission.

In addition, several Democratic committee members questioned why Skandera has allowed online charter schools to sign contracts with for-profit companies.

The legality of a contract at the New Mexico Virtual Academy was questioned by Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, who said the company hired to provide curriculum for the school is trying to earn a profit.

At another point during Saturday’s hearing, in which senators focused more on administrative controversy than education policy, Skandera touted improved statewide graduation rates for Hispanic and Native American students.

“We are closing the achievement gap,” she told committee members.

That prompted Sen. Jacob Candelaria, an Albuquerque Democrat, to say some of Skandera’s education initiatives — such as a new teacher evaluation system — have been in place only for a short time. He chastised her for taking credit for the trend.

“I want to make sure that we don’t politicize data, and we don’t politicize outcomes,” Candelaria said.

The Senate Rules Committee started its confirmation hearing on Skandera’s nomination on March 1. Counting the three-hour Saturday hearing, the panel has now spent 10 hours spread over three days listening to testimony and asking questions.

Unlike the previous hearings, no public comment was accepted Saturday, though roughly 60 people filled a committee room to listen to the question-and-answer session.

Other than Skandera, the only individual to speak to the 10 members of the Senate Rules Committee on Saturday was Michael Corwin, who runs a union-backed political group.

Corwin has presented a report to committee members that, among other things, accuses Skandera of misusing public dollars during her time at PED. He was questioned Saturday by GOP senators about whether he is a target of an FBI investigation into private emails that Martinez has said were stolen from her campaign account.

Corwin said he has been told that he is not a target of the investigation.

A Governor’s Office spokesman criticized Senate Democrats for allowing Corwin to play a role in the confirmation hearing. Spokesman Enrique Knell also said Democrats do not want to have an “honest debate” about education reform.

Prior to coming to New Mexico, Skandera worked as an education policy adviser in California, Texas, Florida and Washington D.C., including a stint as deputy commissioner of education under former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Her lack of classroom experience has been criticized by educators, who have voiced their opposition to Skandera’s nomination en masse.