After taking accountability for an error in the appointment process of the State Textbook Committee, Alabama Education Superintendent Eric Mackey called for legislative reform to the textbook selection process, which he said was the "bane of my existence."
Mackey spoke before the State Board of Education (BOE) on Tuesday, informing them of an apparent mix-up with his office that led to the erroneous appointment of the State Textbook Committee.
A letter bearing Mackey’s signature was sent to Emily Eddings-Sandley, an employee of the controversial, pro-LGBTQ+ charter school Magic City Acceptance Academy (MCAA), informing her of her appointment to the committee, even though she had not been approved by either the State BOE or the Alabama Senate.
After nearly a week, since Mackey was out of the country when the questions first arose, he apologized to the board for the error and promised administrative fixes to prevent similar errors in the future.
Mackey voiced frustration with the textbook procurement process as a whole and expressed a desire to see legislative reform.
“I have said many times, and I say it again, not as an excuse, but every one of you has heard me say individually to you and as a group, that the textbook process is the bane of my existence,” Mackey said. “It is the biggest thorn under my saddle, and it always has been. It is the only thing the board votes on that does not come to you as a recommendation from the superintendent.”
He continued, “I’m supposed to be very hands-off of the textbook committee. I don’t go to their meetings. [I] don’t get involved because the textbook committee makes recommendations directly to the board. Y’all know that. That’s been one of our struggles for years. That’s the way the law is written. We’ve all talked about this. We think the law needs to be changed.”
Mackey wants the textbook committee to operate like that state’s Course of Study Committee, which reports to the superintendent and then makes recommendations to the State BOE.
“It ought to be the superintendent’s committee, and then the superintendent brings you the recommendation, not an outside committee. I made that point years ago, and I got voted down in the legislature. I don’t get to decide that. We’ll try again. But I think that would make the lines more direct.”
Mackey is not the only one to have recently called for reform of the textbook process, with some pointing to the committee’s lack of transparency.
RELATED: Former Textbook Committee member calls for reform: ‘The process is flawed’
The textbook committee's job is to evaluate and recommend textbooks for Alabama's public K-12 schools. However, its operations are not always apparent. The meetings are closed to the public and do not fall under the state's transparency law, the Open Meetings Act (OMA).
It's a Class C misdemeanor for any member of the committee or for any other person to disclose the committee's textbook ratings and gradings to anyone except the State BOE and the State Superintendent of Education until after the contracts are made.
Once the committee finishes its evaluations, it sends recommendations to the State BOE. After that, the board has the final say at meetings open to the public. Since the State BOE technically conducts the deliberative process and the Textbook Committee only makes recommendations, the law does not appear to subject them to OMA.
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