FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- Former Kentucky Board of Education members are taking their case against Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive order that booted them from the panel to federal court, according to a Friday news release.
Seven of the 11 former board members have signed onto the new action, filed in partnership with the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions in U.S. District Court.
The lawsuit replaces one filed on behalf of 10 of the former board members in Franklin Circuit Court, which has been withdrawn.
The Bluegrass Institute will provide financial and legal support in the endeavor, former board member Gary Houchens said in a news release.
The former members contend that their removal from the Kentucky Board of Education without cause before their terms expired violates state law.
Beshear, however, has relied on a recent Supreme Court ruling that he lost as attorney general in a case where he challenged various reorganizations enacted by his predecessor, Gov. Matt Bevin.
That ruling, Beshear has said, affirms his authority as governor to reorganize the state education board, which he did on his first day in office on Dec. 10. The new board negotiated the resignation of former Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis two days later.
“In addition to our contention the executive order violates Kentucky law, we believe the Governor’s actions violate the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, and also denied board members their right to due process,” Houchens said in a statement. “We were terminated from our board positions for purely political reasons."
Jim Waters, president of the Bluegrass Institute, said in a statement that Beshear’s executive order reorganizing the Kentucky Board of Education “is an abuse of power and permanently undermines the independence of the board and the Kentucky Department of Education it oversees.”
Covington-based attorney Steven Megerle is representing the former board members in the federal lawsuit.
The former board members were unsuccessful in their attempts to have Beshear’s reorganization blocked with an injunction in Franklin Circuit Court and on appeal to the Kentucky Court of Appeals and Kentucky Supreme Court.
Hal Heiner, the former chairman; Alesa Johnson; and Tracey Cusick are no longer involved in the litigation.
Copyright 2020 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
