OMA Board Supports Bill Creating New State Department of Learning, Offers Recommendations

At its March meeting the OMA Board of Directors considered the merits of House Bill 512, which would create a new Department of Learning and Achievement by merging the current Department of Education with the Department of Higher Education and the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation.

This week, the OMA board issued this statement on House Bill 512:

“The accountability system for education and workforce development is clearly fragmented. Any disjointed accountability system can contribute to redundancies and waste, disjointed goals and metrics, and a misalignment of strategy and operations.

“The integration proposed by House Bill 512 is intended to repair this fragmented accountability system. For that reason, the OMA Board of Directors supports the bill.

“However, manufacturers know from experience that organizational integrations are hard work. Simply changing organizational structure does not assure achievement of desired organizational outcomes, or even improvement.

“To be successful, integration needs to be accompanied by establishment of clear goals and effective metrics, development of organizational culture, and deployment of management systems that engage stakeholders and drive toward results. The OMA Board of Directors encourages the sponsors of House Bill 512 to attend to these elements of success that should accompany structural reform for the benefit of all stakeholders, including students and their families, educators, the community and its employers.” 3/29/2018