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Gov. Neil Abercrombie could begin picking his own Hawaii State Board of Education within the month, as long as nobody puts the brakes on .

The bill, which gives the governor authority to make direct appointments to the Hawaii State Board of Education, is fast making its way to Abercrombie’s desk and could receive his signature as soon as next week. (He has already announced his preference for this bill.)

This week, the House Education Committee abandoned for a selection advisory council that would vet candidates, in favor of a Senate proposal that would give the governor sole authority to select his own board members. Under the Senate proposal, the governor’s nominees would still be subject to Senate approval.

House Education Chairman Roy Takumi spoke with Civil Beat Friday morning about the committee’s rapid change of heart on the selection process. What motivated them, he said, was fulfilling the voters’ wishes for an appointed board in a timely manner. That, paired with the Senate’s overwhelming support for the direct-appointment bill, drove House members to find some solid middle ground.

“The macro view, I suppose, is that politics is all about compromising,” Takumi explained. “If a few senators had expressed some concern, that would have been one thing — but when the Senate passed its proposal unanimously, it was clear that their decision was to let the governor unilaterally appoint who he wants. If the House had continued to insist on some formal process, we probably would have gone to the end of session without coming to an agreement.”

Even so, he said, House members thought it would be prudent to keep a check on the governor’s powers.

Takumi’s committee added some to the bill that included:

• Adding in some selection criteria the governor must use in making appointments.
• Shortening board member terms from four years to three years.
• Slimming down the size of the board from 11 voting members to nine voting members — one each from Kauai, Maui and Hawaii counties, three from Honolulu County and three at-large.

“The biggest difference between the House and the Senate versions is that the House draft added some guidelines that the governor must follow when appointing board members,” Takumi said. “On that point, the Senate proposal was completely silent and the governor could appoint whoever he wanted without ever having to explain what criteria was used in making — in this case his — selections.”

Earlier this week, Abercrombie appointed First Hawaiian Bank CEO Don Horner to an unfinished term on the board. The quality of that appointment matched Takumi’s expectations of the skills and experience he would like to see on the Board of Education. At the same, he said, it’s important to establish standard criteria that would be used not just by this governor, but governors in the future.

“I looked for middle ground between having the governor appoint unilaterally appoint with no criteria, and having our proposal of a selection advisory council. The middle ground we found was laying out some guidelines that the governor has to follow,” he said.

The Senate proposal originally granted voting rights to the board’s student member. But Takumi views the board selection process and the voting rights for the student member as separate issues. His committee took language giving the student member a vote out of the Senate version. Instead, the committee re-crafted the House’s proposal into an independent statute amendment giving the student member voting rights.

“To me, the bills served two purposes, and the voting student member is actually a stand-alone issue, which is why we separated them,” Takumi said. The voting student member proposal has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

The proposal for direct appointments by the governor moves on to the House Finance Committee next Tuesday. Takumi said it could be on Gov. Abercrombie’s desk by the end of the week and he could begin making appointments by the end of the month.

“Whether you think it’s fair or unfair, the current board is a lame-duck board,” Takumi said. “The elected board is kind of in a no-win situation, because if they make some tough decisions, people are going say ‘oh, you’re not going to be there in a few months anyway.’ But if they act as just a caretaker board, people are going to ask why they’re just sitting there and not making any decisions.”

“I think the general sentiment is, ‘let’s get this new board up and running,'” he said.