Legislators rejected this NC school board nominee. So the governor appointed him.

Gov. Roy Cooper has appointed three people to fill vacancies on the State Board of Education, including a person who state lawmakers previously refused to confirm.

J.B. Buxton, an education consultant from Raleigh and former deputy state schools superintendent, was sworn onto the State Board of Education on Wednesday to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of former board chairman Bill Cobey. Cooper, a Democrat, had previously nominated Buxton to fill a different seat on the state board, but he was rejected by Republican lawmakers in June.

Republican legislators didn’t publicly give reasons for rejecting Buxton. But Democratic legislators said Buxton, who also served as education advisor to former Gov. Mike Easley, was one of the most qualified nominees ever for the state board.

Despite the rejection, Buxton said in an interview Wednesday he was more than willing to serve when Cooper gave him this new opportunity.

“I was appreciative of his confidence and frankly I’ve worked with this board in many different capacities,” Buxton said. “I have a lot of respect for the role this board plays in public education, and I want to be part of that.”

Cooper also announced Wednesday that he had appointed Jill Camnitz and James E. Ford to fill two other vacancies caused by resignations. None of the three new board members require legislative confirmation and will stay on until permanent replacements are nominated by Cooper and are confirmed by the legislature.

Camnitz, of Greenville, is chairwoman of the board of directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain and is a former Pitt County school board member. She was sworn onto the state board on Wednesday.

Ford, of Charlotte, is an education consultant who was named North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year in 2014, when he worked in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system.

Ford, who also previously served as program director at the Public School Forum of North Carolina, has been a critic of the Republican-led legislature and an advocate of doing more to keep schools from racially resegregating. Ford will join the state board at a later meeting.

This story was originally published October 3, 2018 at 1:22 PM with the headline "Legislators rejected this NC school board nominee. So the governor appointed him.."