BY GRANT SCHULTEAssociated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. — A Ne-braska law that allows the pub-lic to know the names andbackgrounds of finalists for topjobs in government is some-times ignored and frequentlychallenged, advocates for trans-parency say.

All efforts to end the disclo-sure law have failed in the Leg-islature, but governmentaccountability advocates saythey often see a new push forsecrecy when a high-profile jobcomes open.

“They’re always trying tomove to more secret ways ofdoing business, based on theidea that they make good deci-sions without the public,” saidJack Gould, a spokesman forCommon Cause Nebraska. “It’sdiscouraging, it’s dishearteningand it brings up the question:What are they trying to hide?”

This week is national Sun-shine Week, during which newsmedia outlets across the coun-try feature articles and editori-als about the importance ofopen government. The initiativeis led by the American Societyof Newspaper Editors.

Secrecy in government hir-ing has come up frequently.

In January, the Omaha Pub-lic Power District, which hasmore than 360,000 customers insoutheast Nebraska, was criti-cized for refusing to disclosefour finalists for its top execu-tive job. The utility’s board splitinto small groups to privatelyinterview finalists, arguing thepractice let them skip publicmeetings.

The board announced itwould promote utility Vice Pres-

ident Tim Burke to chief execu-tive officer but then decided toreopen the search after intensecriticism and a threat of a law-suit by the Omaha World-Her-ald.

Last year, Sen. Galen Hadleyof Kearney introduced legisla-tion that would have made iteasier for the University of Ne-braska Board of Regents tosearch in secret for a new presi-dent.

The bill would have allowedthe board to deny publicrecords requests for informa-tion about candidates for presi-dent, vice president andchancellor. Current law requirespublic agencies to release infor-mation once four finalists areselected.

Hadley said at the time thatthe current system limits thepool of applicants.

Earlier this year, lawmakersconsidered a bill that wouldhave allowed Nebraska schoolboards to hold closed sessionswhen narrowing down job ap-plicants. Current law only al-lows for closed sessions ifnecessary to prevent “needlessinjury” to a candidate’s reputa-tion.

Sen. Roy Baker of Lincolnsaid he introduced the bill toclear up a discrepancy in statelaw. Nebraska only requireswritten notice once a board hasdecided on a position’s finalists,but Baker said the state’s openmeetings law still allows other

semifinalists’ identities to be-come public during the prelimi-nary phases of a search.

Baker, a former superintend-ent and search firm consultant,said school districts lose goodcandidates without confiden-tiality.

News media groups op-posed the bill, arguing that su-perintendents are thehighest-paid positions in somerural areas and candidatesshouldn’t be afraid of publicscrutiny.

The bill follows a recent Uni-versity of Nebraska Board of Re-gents presidential search inwhich finalists were disclosed,but discussions about themwere kept private. Regents citedthe “needless injury” exemptionbefore opening a meeting in Jan-uary to unanimously chooseHank Bounds.

In 2004, former AttorneyGeneral Jon Bruning threatenedto sue for the release of Univer-sity of Nebraska presidential fi-nalists after the universitydeclined to name them.

Releasing the names of final-ists allows the public to vet can-didates who serve the interestsof students, parents and taxpay-ers, said Allen Beermann, exec-utive director of the NebraskaPress Association. Beermannsaid releasing finalist namesalso sets a tone that local gov-ernment errs on the side oftransparency.

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the midwest

SD Dems Press For Education PrioritiesPIERRE (AP) — South Dakota Democrats

are urging Republican lawmakers and Gov.Dennis Daugaard to take on education fundingand teacher pay as a key focus for the nextlegislative session.

Assistant House Minority Leader JulieBartling pressed her colleagues on Friday torecognize the issues as necessities like theroad and bridge funding hike lawmakerspassed this session.

Bartling says other lawmakers seemed tolike her message.

The state budget the Legislature passed on Friday for theupcoming budget year provides for a 2 percent increase instate aid for education, which is a bump above the statutoryrequirement to keep up with inflation.

GOP lawmakers point to an education task force Daugaardand Republicans unveiled in February to evaluate the issueahead of next year’s session.

SD Board OKs Slight Tuition IncreasePIERRE (AP) — The South Dakota Board of Education has

approved a slight tuition increase that will go into effect in thenext school year.

Tuition and fees will go up by $8 per credit, to a $145 percredit. That includes a $2 increase in facility fees and $1 bumpin maintenance and repair fees.

The board also announced that the first Build Dakotascholarships will be awarded to incoming students at the statetechnical institutes. About 300 scholarships should beawarded in the first year. The program is open to in-state andout-of-state residents.

Neb. AG Has Prostate Cancer Surgery LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Attorney General Doug

Peterson is recovering at his home after surgery for earlystages of prostate cancer.

Peterson went into surgery about 3:15 p.m. Friday after-noon for a three-hour procedure at Methodist Hospital inOmaha, spokeswoman Suzanne Gage said.

Gage said Monday that the early-phase cancer was de-tected during an appointment in December. Gage said she didnot know the motive for the initial appointment. Peterson andhis family decided shortly after to approach the diagnosiswith prostate removal surgery.

Peterson alerted his bureau chiefs last week and an-nounced the surgery in a staff meeting Thursday.

Gage said it’s too early to be certain, but doctors felt thesurgery was successful.

“They felt like it was contained and they got what theyneeded,” she said. “They were feeling pretty confident post-surgery.”

Peterson left the hospital after a 24-hour observation pe-riod and will be conducting business from home this week.

“We’re going to encourage him to stay away and make surehe follows his doctor’s orders,” Gage said.

In 2013, then-Attorney General Jon Bruning underwent suc-cessful surgery to remove part of his colon and surroundinglymph nodes after he was diagnosed with colon cancer.

RC Man Hospitalized After Being Shot RAPID CITY (AP) — Rapid City police are investigating the

shooting of a man near a bar.Officers responded to the Time Out Lounge area about

midnight Saturday after a report of a gunshot. Police say a 29-year-old Rapid City man was taken from the scene to a hospi-tal with serious injuries.

Officers questioned several people but did not make imme-diately make any arrests.

The victim was not immediately identified.

6 Flee From Fire That Destroys HomeHOSKINS, Neb. (AP) — Six people in a family have escaped

safely from flames that destroyed their rural home in north-east Nebraska’s Stanton County.

County Sheriff Mike Unger says firefighters were dis-patched around 1:30 a.m. Monday to the three-story house onNebraska Highway 35 near Hoskins. Crews from Hoskins, Nor-folk, Stanton and Winside were called in to help.

The couple and their four children were home when thefire started, but they fled to safety. The home and an outbuild-ing were destroyed.

The fire cause is being investigated.

North Platte Fire Causes EvacuationNORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — Officials say that several

homes are in danger as a grass fire in North Platte continuesto spread.

The North Platte Telegraph reports that the fire beganMonday afternoon between a row of houses and the NorthPlatte River. Several fire units have responded to the fire buthaven’t yet been able to contain it.

Authorities say an area just south of the fire, on the north-east side of North Platte, has been evacuated. The Red Crosshas been called to aid families, and traffic is being diverted.

No further information has been released.

BY BOB MERCERState Capitol Bureau

SIOUX FALLS — Proposed standardsfor science education in South Dakota’spublic schools became the latest Mondayto receive criticism from some parentswhose values are at odds with the direc-tion of the state Department of Education.

The state Board of Education held apublic hearing that was split between sci-ence professionals who strongly supportthe new standards and opposing parentswho disbelieve climate change and evolu-tion.

State law requires the board to holdfour public hearings on changes in schoolstandards. The board will reach its deci-sion on the science proposal after thefourth hearing set for May 18 in Ab-erdeen.

One of the mothers who testified Mon-day said she applied to serve on the workgroup for the science standards butwasn’t selected. She said she knew threeother parents who also weren’t chosen.

“I wish that you allowed that opportu-nity to occur,” Nicole Osmundson of SiouxFalls said.

Osmundson described climate changeand evolution as “fringe ideas” but sug-gested there could be ways to hold class-room discussions about them without theschool system advocating for or againstthem.

Another opponent, Catherine Billion ofSioux Falls, tied the standards movementto UNESCO — the United Nations Educa-

tional, Scientific and Cultural Organiza-tion — and its Agenda 21 plan for sustain-able development that was adopted at aninternational conference in 1992.

Billion said many South Dakota fami-lies have values that don’t match theschool standards as proposed. “And thatpits school against parents,” she said.

The state board could adopt the sci-ence standards at the May 18 meeting ordirect the department to further revisethem for possible final approval at theboard’s July 27 meeting in Rapid City.

School districts would be required tohave the standards in use for the 2017-2018 academic year, according to theboard’s president, Don Kirkegaard of Stur-gis. He is superintendent for the Meadeschool district.

The opponents, however, saw morethan twice as many science teachers, re-searchers and scientists testify in favor.

“I am fully in support of the adoptionof these standards,” said Julie Olson, aMitchell High School science teacher andpresident of her profession’s statewideorganization.

Olson, who’s taught for 24 years, saidthe standards as they are proposed fea-ture a steady progression and would workwell for at-risk students, limited-Englishstudents and advanced students.

Others said school districts’ sciencestandards varied widely and sometimeshave been “a slippery slope” that didn’tencourage the rigor needed in sciencedisciplines.

Sam Shaw, who’s overseen the science

standards development for the depart-ment, said the work group accepted ear-lier suggestions that the standards needto be aligned by grade groupings, such asfor grades six through eight and for highschool.

The work group will convene this sum-mer to address that situation, accordingto Shaw.

“That’s a big concern for many of us,”Kirkegaard said.

The state board also took commentsMonday on proposed new standards forthree more areas.

Fine arts and K-12 educational technol-ogy will get their final public hearings atAberdeen on May 18, while social studieswill get hearings at Aberdeen and on July27 at Rapid City.

The four-city hearing requirement —Aberdeen, Sioux Falls, Pierre and RapidCity — was adopted by the Legislatureafter the state board voted in 2010 toadopt Common Core standards for mathand English language arts.

People claimed in subsequent yearsthey didn't know the state board plannedto take the action. The board followed thestandard public process set previously bythe Legislature for rule making.

Attempts fell short last year and thisyear to have the Legislature repeal or sus-pend Common Core. The new SmarterBalanced standardized assessments usingthose standards are in their second yearof use this spring.

South Dakota

Science Standards StirCriticism At Meeting

Groups: Neb. TransparencyLaw Constantly Under Attack

BOR ExecutiveDirector Set

To RetirePIERRE (AP) — The ex-

ecutive director and CEO ofthe South Dakota Board ofRegents is retiring at theend of the year.

Jack R. Warner is in hissixth year as head of thesystem. He’s leaving at atime when enrollment atthe state’s public universi-ties is at an all-time high.

Warner is a Massachu-setts native who holds de-grees from Boston College,Springfield College and theUniversity of Vermont. Hecame to South Dakota in2009 after serving as highereducation commissioner inRhode Island for sevenyears.

Warner will have thesecond longest tenure asexecutive director of thesystem.

Board president DeanKrogman says Warner hasdone “extraordinary work”for higher education inSouth Dakota.

YOURNEWS!The Press &

DakotanMITCHELL (AP) — In a story about Dakota Wesleyan Uni-

versity’s decision to drop most of its foreign language cur-riculum (Press & Dakotan, March 9), The Associated Presserroneously reported that the late Sen. George McGovern ranfor vice president. He did not, but he was the DemocraticParty’s presidential candidate in 1972.

C O R R E C T I O N

Bartling