APNewsBreak: Mo. ed. chief advised ballot group
By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press
Updated 4:06 pm, Wednesday, November 20, 2013
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri's education commissioner provided advice to a group crafting a ballot proposal that would end tenure protections for public school teachers and instead make their employment contingent on student achievement.
State email records show commissioner Chris Nicastro met with an advocate of the ballot initiative more than a year ago, suggested specific wording and reviewed a final draft of the initiative before it was filed this March with the secretary of state's office.
Nicastro's involvement is detailed in emails released by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in response to a Sunshine Law request filed by the Missouri chapter of the National Education Association. The teachers' union, which opposed the initiative, provided the emails to The Associated Press.
The group said Nicastro's involvement went beyond what was appropriate for a nonpartisan appointee of the State Board of Education.
Nicastro said Wednesday that she has no position on the initiative but provided the group