Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson said Friday that he'll consider current and retired school district superintendents as candidates to be the state's next education commissioner, though he expects state Education Commissioner Tony Wood to remain in the job for "some time."
He also said he would ask the Legislature to provide "some extra funds" to school districts to train high school teachers to teach computer coding to high school students, and he'll provide details about that in the future.
Hutchinson, a Republican from Rogers, spoke before several hundred people attending the Arkansas School Boards Association's annual conference at the Little Rock Marriott and then answered several questions from the audience. He will be sworn in Jan. 13, replacing Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe of Searcy.
Under state law, the education commissioner serves at the governor's pleasure and is hired by the nine-member Board of Education with the governor's confirmation. All nine board members are appointees of Beebe.
Hutchinson said state Education Commissioner Tony Wood "has really been a great team player" and "a good resource for me during the transition."
Wood, a retired superintendent of the Searcy School District who is a good friend of Beebe's, served as deputy commissioner for nearly four years before being promoted in July.
Hutchinson told reporters Friday that he hasn't determined whether Wood will stay through the end of the 2015 legislative session.
"Obviously at some point I want to bring in someone to take a fresh look at things, and so that is a compliment to Dr. Tony Wood and his partnership with us," Hutchinson told the school board association's conference.
As for the future, Hutchinson said he wants to have somebody as the state's education commissioner who has experience in Arkansas.
"I don't want to bring somebody in that we need to educate them about what Lake View is all about," he said, referring to the state's landmark school funding case.
"Obviously when you look at experts in education, you look at the superintendents that are there, retired superintendents, people who have experience in being in the classroom, and being in our schools, so that's the type of experience that I think that is important for a commissioner," Hutchinson said.
His remarks came a day after he told reporters that he isn't considering asking the Legislature to change the qualifications for the state's education commissioner. Some educators have privately wondered whether Hutchinson would appoint a noneducator for the job.
Under state law, the state's education commissioner must be a person of good moral character, recognized as a leader in the field of education, and qualified technically and by experience to direct the work of the department; hold a master's degree from an accredited institution; have had 10 years' experience as a teacher, five of which must be of an administrative or supervisory nature; and hold a valid state teacher's license.
The chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Jane English, R-North Little Rock, said Friday in an interview that no one has talked to her about changing state law to allow a noneducator to serve as education commissioner.
"I am sure the folks in the education business want a superintendent," she said. "It is a very big job and very stressful."
English said it's likely the Legislature would change state law to allow a noneducator to serve as the state's education commissioner if Hutchinson requested it, adding the Legislature changed the qualifications for the director of the state Department of Higher Education to allow former state Sen. Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, to serve.
Hutchinson told reporters Friday that he wants an education commissioner who, among other things, shares his excitement about technology education and understands the importance of reviewing the Common Core standards in order "to ferret out what tweaks may need to be made there."
While speaking before the school board association meeting, he said he wants the Legislature to change state law to allow high school students to earn a core graduation credit in either math or science for taking a computer coding or computer science class, and his goal is for each high school to offer computer science.
Hutchinson acknowledged that he was surprised to hear a range of estimates on Thursday during a meeting of the Arkansas STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] Coalition that only four to 20 high school teachers are qualified to teach computer coding.
"That means we have to retrain a lot of math or science teachers to give them the ability to teach computer coding to their students, so we are going to have to retrain and incentivize [them]," he said.
"I intend to have some extra funds that will be devoted to computer science in the high schools that will help provide incentive money for our schools to train those teachers and our teachers to learn those skills that are necessary for our students," he said.
Afterward, Hutchinson said he would announce how much he would seek for computer science when he proposes his state budget in January.
Metro on 12/13/2014