Stitt raises procedural concerns about social studies standards vote, urges legislature to restore board member agenda power

Governor Kevin Stitt said he was less concerned about the content of proposed social studies standards than with how the State Board of Education conducted the vote, telling reporters the board had been shown a different document than the one that was on the desk when members voted.

‘‘So, it’s been showed to me from the board members that they were emailed a copy of those standards, but then there was a different standard that was sitting on the desk that they actually voted on. Well that seems — that’s very, very odd,’’ Stitt said. He compared the situation to a corporate board in which a chief executive sends one package and members actually vote on another.

Stitt said existing rules restrict a board member’s ability to place items on an agenda and urged the Legislature to change that. ‘‘There’s legislation that a board member can't put something on the agenda. That’s being held up in the legislature right now. I hope that gets across the finish line because it doesn't make sense for Oklahomans … if we're supposed to hold the agencies accountable and a board member can't even pull something up to ask questions and can't get an agenda item on a board,’’ he said.

The governor said the Legislature will ultimately decide whether the social studies standards are adopted. ‘‘I'm not saying those are good or bad, the legislature is going to have to make a decision on that,’’ he said, and asked reporters to investigate and report details about the documents provided to board members.

No formal action was taken by the governor in the press conference; he described a procedural concern and called for legislative fixes and public scrutiny of the board process.