2 bills target Skandera’s PEC decision

Among the bills that reached Gov. Susana Martinez’s desk during the Legislative session are a proposal to stop the secretary of education from approving charter schools on appeal and another to ban for-profit companies from administering curriculum.

Both bills are at least partially in response to Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera’s decision in January to overturn the Public Education Commission and approve an all-virtual charter school. The PEC had voted to reject New Mexico Connections Academy, which would be fully online and would contract with the for-profit Connections Academy for curriculum.

Skandera overturned the PEC on appeal, clearing the way for Connections Academy to open in the fall. That decision has been scrutinized in part because Connections Academy is a donor to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s education foundation. Skandera is a member of Chiefs for Change, a group of like-minded state education chiefs who receive guidance and assistance from Bush’s foundation.

At the time, a spokesman for Skandera said she approved the charter on its merits and that virtual learning creates important options for students.

The PEC, a 10-member elected board, is appealing Skandera’s decision in court.

Enrique Knell, spokesman for Martinez, said in an email that Martinez is still reviewing legislation and has not decided which bills she will sign.

House Bill 392, sponsored by Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces, would make the PEC independent of the Public Education Department. It would also remove the secretary’s ability to overturn PEC decisions. Charter schools wishing to appeal a PEC decision would have to do so in court.

Carolyn Shearman, the chair of the PEC and a supporter of the bill, said the current appeal process is “very flawed.”

The bill comes with a $350,000 appropriation to hire an independent staff for the PEC and would also give the commission authority to make administrative rules about charter schools.

A second bill related to Connections Academy is House Bill 460, which would ban for-profit companies from administering the educational program at any public school. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, has been supported by the nonprofit Albuquerque Interfaith and other groups concerned about private companies profiting from public school dollars.

“It’s a privatization of public education,” said Albuquerque Interfaith co-chair Trey Hammond. “That’s our concern, that’s our problem. We’re just leaking money that we can’t afford to lose.”

Paul Gessing, who spearheaded the Connections Academy application, said for-profit textbook and software companies have always been part of public school curriculum, and online courses are no different.

Gessing is also the president of the Rio Grande Foundation, a limited-government advocacy group that is not related to his role with Connections Academy. Gessing said that, as an advocate, he worries about constricting choice.

“We’re all about options and innovation and choices, not about trying to restrict that,” Gessing said. “I just don’t see how we’re going to get out of the bottom of the education levels in terms of our results as a state without encouraging innovation.”
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal