The Department of Education is officially no more. Enactment of the biennial state budget has replaced it with the Department of Education and Workforce, effectively negating most powers of the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction it appoints. We will all be waiting to hear who will become the newly minted agency's director, a role now named by the governor.
The change is a result of the Senate's decision to add SB 1 to the budget bill. Although the House had been slow to give its support to that bill, it ultimately acquiesced when it became part of the larger spending package in exchange for maintaining its more generous version of the school funding formula.
Legislative Lowdown: ODE Becomes DEW; Intern Funding Flat; TGRG Repeal
