Some More *Clarity* on BESE’s “Special Counsel,” Contract Limitations, and PARCC
July 03, 2014, has been quite the day for uplifting information in the Roemer/White vs. Jindal battle over Louisiana public education. In this post, I elaborate on three topics: 1) Roemer’s, White’s, and the BESE majority’s attempts to “retain special counsel” in order to sue the governor; 2) further limits placed upon LDOE and BESE regarding contracts, and 3) an update on PARCC.
To give readers a sense of how one will feel after reading this post, let me say that none of this is news that will make BESE President Chas Roemer or Louisiana State Superintendent John White light of heart.
Stand for Children might want to sit down, as well.
That “Special Counsel” Situation
Here in Louisiana, we have a situation in which the state board of education (BESE) has voted to “retain special counsel” so that it and the state superintendent, John White, might sue the governor, Bobby Jindal, over his actions initiated on June, 18, 2014, decision to extract Louisiana public education from both the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the associated Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessments.
BESE President Chas Roemer appears to be pretty puffed up about how Jindal’s June 18,2014, executive order– not the least of which involved freezing BESE money for its current “arrangement” for PARCC tests–”violates” BESE’s and White’s “rights.”
BESE is a state agency and is part of the executive branch. As such, in order for BESE to retain special counsel, it must at least secure the approval of the attorney general. The question becomes whether BESE needs approval of the governor, as well.
The Louisiana Code has two statutes concerning state agency retention of special counsel. Both statutes are excused from the regular contract procurement process as per the Louisiana Procurement Code. (See this post for more details.) One statute, RS 42:263, requires only attorney general approval:
§263. Resolution requesting special counselA. No parish governing authority, levee board except as provided in Subsection B hereof, parish school board, city school board, or other local or state board shall retain or employ any special attorney or counsel to represent it in any special matter or pay any compensation for any legal services whatever unless a real necessity exists, made to appear by a resolutionSome More *Clarity* on BESE’s “Special Counsel,” Contract Limitations, and PARCC | deutsch29: