Gov. Asa Hutchinson Nominates Johnny Key As New Education Commissioner (UPDATED)

Gov. Asa Hutchinson Monday announced former Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, as his preference as the state’s new education commissioner, but state law will have to be changed for that to happen.

Key served in the Legislature as a representative and senator from 2003 until 2014, including more than five years as chairman of the Senate Education Committee. He was known for having a conciliatory, bipartisan style.

“As I talked to people across Arkansas, at every venue of education, no one is more respected in education than Johnny Key,” Hutchinson said. “He was able to work in a bipartisan way when he was in the Legislature. He’s respected by both sides.”

After his introduction, Key said, “We are moving now from where we’ve been talking the last decade about adequacy. We’re going to start moving towards talking about excellence, and we’re going to start putting things in place to bring about excellence in education in our state.”

Under state law, the education commissioner must have a master’s degree and 10 years of experience in teaching, five of which must have been in an administrative or supervisory position. Senate Bill 176 by Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, would change those requirements to a bachelor’s degree and allow for indirect education experience as a policymaker.

The bill has not yet moved out of the Senate Education Committee and originally drew opposition from the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators. Dr. Richard Abernathy, the executive director, praised Key and said his group’s membership will be approached again now that Key is the governor’s stated preference.

“We were against the legislation. We’re not against Johnny Key,” he said.

The education commissioner serves at the pleasure of the governor but is hired by the State Board of Education, which typically defers to the governor’s choice. State Board member Diane Zook, who was at the announcement, was supportive of Key’s selection.

“I cannot think of any reason right now why I wouldn’t support him,” she said. “Yes, at this point I’m very supportive of him. … I think his education experience is different from classrooms and administration. He has knowledge and a lot of experience working with educators, and so I think it’s just a different type of education experience.”

Of that potential legislative change, Key said, “We have reasonable confidence that they’ll move … expeditiously on it.”

Key said it is premature to discuss his priorities or to talk about bills being considered by lawmakers.

As education commissioner, he would be the official in charge of the Little Rock School District as a result of the State Board’s decision to remove the district from local control.

Asked about that, he said, “I can’t give you specific details of what I’m going to do, but what I can tell you is my philosophy, and my philosophy is that we have to reestablish trust where trust has been broken. … And that’s not just in Little Rock. I think you can see that in pockets. We need to reestablish trust within our communities, within our education professionals, within the state officials.”

Hutchinson and Key said Key originally had turned down the job in December. At the time, Key had recently resigned his Senate seat to become the University of Arkansas System’s associate vice president for university relations. Hutchinson said Key had reconsidered over the the past “four or five days.” Key said it was difficult to turn down a request from the governor and said his 16-year-old daughter had encouraged him to take the job because of the opportunity to help more people.

Hutchinson praised the current education commissioner, Tony Wood, who began serving in that position at the end of the previous administration. Key said he hoped Wood would remain at the Department of Education through the transition.