Senate Gives Ky Board Member Steven Neal the Heave Ho Without Lifting a Finger

Now "former" Kentucky Board of Education member Steven B. Neal failed to gain confirmation from the Kentucky Senate yesterday. This follows his unanimous approval in the House.

Lacking confirmation in both houses, Neal is no longer a member of the board.

This apparently occurred when the Senate declined to present or act upon a resolution confirming his appointment.

KDE spokesperson Lisa Gross told KSN&C,

"What I can say about that is that he is no longer a member of the board. The Governor may appoint someone to replace him, and that person would serve unconfirmed until the next session of the General Assembly."

According to Mark Hebert a number of Governor Beshear's appointments to important state boards lost their seats because the House or Senate failed to confirm their appointments.

The republican controlled Senate adjourned after approving four of the five members of the Kentucky Board of Education who were up for confirmation. The odd man out is a union man, Steve Neal, who is the Executive Director of the Jefferson County Teachers Association.

So Steve Neal was simply left behind.

Governor Beshear's spokesperson, Jay Blanton told KSN&C,

“We will be going back now as quickly as possible to review potential appointments for this important position at a critical time in the effort to move forward with school reforms. We’re disappointed that Steve was not confirmed as he already had, in a very short period of time, made significant contributions to the school board.”