Committee approves bill to detach Public Education Commission staff from Public Education Department

The House Education Committee voted to advance House Bill 365, a measure to administratively detach the Public Education Commission from the Public Education Department and to create a State Charter Office under the PEC that would be staffed and overseen directly by the elected commission.

Sponsor testimony described the bill as "common-sense" cleanup to align administrative responsibility with the commission's statutory role as an independent authorizer. Testimony from commissioners, charter-school leaders and district staff said transferring charter-division staff to the PEC would reduce duplicative bureaucracy and improve responsiveness to charter schools. Witnesses said the change would be budget neutral because the office would be funded from the 2% charter oversight set-aside already withheld from charter distributions.

PEC Chair Becca Burt, commissioners and charter-school leaders testified that the current administrative attachment has produced conflicting direction and that staff at the charter school division sometimes faced competing priorities between PED leadership and PEC policy. Burt and others argued that autonomy would allow staff to follow PEC policy directives without conflicting agency guidance.

The Public Education Department's deputy secretary, Amanda DeBell, testified in opposition, saying PED must continue to serve all public schools and raising concerns the detachment could create a division between charter and other public schools. DeBell noted that some functions (accountability, finance, special education and other statutory responsibilities) would remain administratively attached to PED and urged discussions on amendments to clarify coordination. Committee members asked several questions about the 2% set-aside, current uses of that funding and statutory overlaps; PEC witnesses provided figures showing increased transparency about the 2% and how much PEC currently receives.

Representative Lada moved a do-pass motion and the committee adopted the recommendation by roll call; the committee's roll-call record in the transcript shows unanimous support to advance the bill. Several members expressed support while also flagging concerns about preserving PED oversight responsibilities for statutory functions such as accountability and special education. Representative Barbol Caballero recorded a statement explaining concerns about the clarity of oversight and accountability language even as she voted to advance the bill.