NM Public Education Secretary Nominee Skandera's Qualifications Questioned

By BARRY MASSEY / Associated Press
Posted: 02/21/2011 04:28:40 PM MST
Las Cruces Sun News

SANTA FE - Republican Gov. Susana Martinez's nominee for public education secretary, Hanna Skandera, faces questions in the Legislature over whether she meets constitutional requirements for the job.

The leader of the Public Education Department must be a "qualified, experienced educator," according to the New Mexico Constitution, but Skandera has never worked as a teacher or administrator in a public elementary or secondary school.

Skandera is subject to Senate confirmation and Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, said lawmakers are trying to determine what the constitution means by "educator."

"I don't think we should just close our eyes to that issue," Sanchez said in a recent interview.

The governor contends Skandera is highly qualified to serve as the state's top educational leader.

Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell said the governor selected Skandera because of her "impressive credentials and strong commitment to reform." Skandera, 37, worked from March 2007 to January 2009 as deputy chief of staff and senior policy adviser to U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.

She was a deputy commissioner of education in the Florida Department of Education in 2005-2007. She held several jobs in the California office of the secretary for education in 2004-2005, including undersecretary for education, chief of staff and assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education.

Her duties in the Florida and California jobs included policy and legislative adviser and "spokesperson to the media, public and education constituents," according to Skandera's resume, which was released by the governor's office.

Skandera also was a lecturer and adjunct professor at Pepperdine University's school of public policy in 2002 and 2003. She earned a master's degree in public policy from the university in 2000.

She worked at the Hoover Institution, a think tank at Stanford University, from May 2000 to December 2003 as a public affairs and research fellow. She worked for Catholic Charities in California in 1993-1998 on an abstinence-only sex education programs for students in grades 6-12.

"In the past, the Legislature has made a distinction between an educator and teacher, with educators being inclusive of administrators and teachers. In this case, Skandera's experience addresses both as she has played a direct role in crafting education policy as well as in classroom instruction," Darnell said in a statement.

Skandera said she views the constitution's educator requirement to mean "you been able to administrate and lead in the education field and established yourself as someone who understands policy and implementation. And I believe that I have done that consistently."

However, an educational union leader said Skandera doesn't meet the requirements for education secretary because she lacks a background in public schools.

"I know she has worked for departments of education but she's worked for departments as a public policy person. l think that is problematic for us as teachers who definitely want a secretary of education to understand what goes on every day in the classroom," said Ellen Bernstein, president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation.

The Public Education Department, under the control of the governor with a cabinet-level secretary, was established in 2003. The provision spelling out the secretary's qualifications was part of that change, which voters adopted as a constitutional amendment.

Veronica Garcia, a career educator who worked as a teacher and school superintendent, served as the state's first public education secretary in Gov. Bill Richardson's administration.

Before the change in educational governance, the elective state Board of Education hired a superintendent of public instruction to run the state's educational agency. The constitution required the state schools superintendent to be a "trained and experienced educator."

Sanchez said it's unclear whether the constitutional question about Skandera's qualifications will become a problem that jeopardizes her confirmation by the Senate. He said she "seems to have a grasp" on educational policy.

Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said he was unaware of the constitutional requirements for the public education secretary but believed that lawmakers should give deference to the governor's picks for top state jobs in most instances.

"The governor ought to be able to put together her team," said Jennings.

I'd Like Hanna Skandera's Deal

Thursday, February 17, 2011

By Leslie Linthicum

Journal Staff Writer

Let's imagine the Journal pays me $125,000 a year to write an opinion column. (It doesn't.)

And let's say the newspaper gave me that fat salary because I am the most talented columnist in all the land. (I wish.)

Let's imagine the same bosses who pay me that handsome salary have frozen a handful of positions at the newspaper after a long, loud public relations campaign about the importance of tight belts and budgetary restraint. (They haven't.)

Now let's say I ask those bosses to pony up $152,000 of that saved salary money so I can hire eight consultants to advise me on how to write my column. (I wouldn't dare.)

But if I did, I'd have my idea consultant, a person to do all those pesky interviews and someone else to transcribe them. And I'd get a typist, a grammarian, a spell-checker and a writing coach. I would pay a pretty penny for a Synonym Czar.
I'd find them all outside of New Mexico because (I gather) that's where all the brains and talent reside.

Wow. Writing my column just got a whole lot easier. It's almost as if I've outsourced a good part of my job with the newspaper's money while still cashing my big, fat paychecks.

Now I just have to cross my fingers that no enterprising reporter discovers my nice little scam and slaps it all over the front page of the newspaper.

If my name were Hanna Skandera and education were my game, well, it would be too late for that.

There was a moderate kerfuffle last week when it was revealed that Skandera, the $125,000-a-year secretary-designate for public education for the state of New Mexico, had contracted eight consultants to advise her on all aspects of running a public education department. The consultants she hired are providing advice on policy, assessment and accountability, technology, teacher effectiveness, organization, federal compliance, funding and communications. What's left?

Skandera was one of Gov. Susana Martinez's early Cabinet hires, and she was introduced as an out-of-stater we were lucky to have been able to nab for this critical position. Skandera is young, only 37, but she has some big-league credentials. She was deputy commissioner of education for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush during Florida's much-lauded era of school reform.

If you'll recall Martinez's campaign, one of her oft-repeated promises was that she would poke a hole in Gov. Bill Richardson's bloated payroll of "exempt" or appointed staffers and let out all that hot air.

Now, in explaining why the state could now pay out $152,000 to eight consultants (who will work in the neighborhood of only six to 12 weeks, by the way), the administration said it was because it saved a lot of money freezing a bunch of those "exempt" Richardson positions.

The department is saving some $300,000 by not filling positions. The administration defends the contracts by saying it is spending $152,000 of that $300,000 to provide "a fresh perspective and short-term guidance" so Skandera can run the department better in the long run. Martinez told me Wednesday she thinks it's money well-spent because part of the consultants' task will be to figure out how to cut the entire education budget by a sharp 20 percent.

Reaction from school superintendents and the unions to the hiring of a team of experts to consult the big cheese was swift, peppered with words like "unbelievable" and "displeasure" and complete with observation of the irony of dinging schools' budgets while writing checks to consultants.

I am considering writing a column about this affair. But first let me round up my team of consultants and find out what the experts think. I believe this deal is odoriferous. Does it smell like a cost-cutting rose? Or does it just stink? I will have to call on my Synonym Czar to sort this out.

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Leslie at 823-3914 or llinthicum@abqjournal.com. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.