Why the "Beshear vs. Bevin" case does not give the governor the right to fire members of KBE

A lot of people, including the Governor (and apparently Judge Wingate, who rejected our appeal last week), do not seem to understand that the Beshear vs. Bevin supreme court case last summer does not apply to the executive order issued by Beshear last week removing members of the Kentucky Board of Education prior to the ends of their terms.

 

What Beshear did is fundamentally different than anything Bevin did, and different than the facts in the supreme court case. The law in question at that time (KRS 12.028) was whether the governor has the general power to reorganize state boards. The supreme court said he does, as that statute clearly states.

 

But what was not at issue in that case was whether the governor can, KRS 12.028 notwithstanding, fire members of KBE prior to the ends of their terms without cause, as is clearly prohibited by KRS 63.080 and KRS 156.029.

 

Judge Wingate, accepting arguments by Gov. Beshear's lawyers, completely ignored this argument, treating the supreme court case as if it nullified KRS 62.080 and 156.029. There is nothing in that ruling that suggests that it did.

 

Bevin may have wanted to prematurely stack the board with his own appointees in direct violation of the spirit of KERA, but he was evidently warned not to do so by members of the state legislature. His executive orders were different, then, from Beshear's, and held up in court.

 

If Beshear's reasoning on this issue (or Bevin's if he thought he could have gotten away with it) are allowed to prevail, the KBE will become a figurehead entity with no actual independence, as the governor can now summarily fire members of the board for any reason or stack it to their advantage.

 

This is not good for Kentucky, or Kentucky's education system, and clear headed people of all partisan affiliations should be able to see that's the case.