BOISE - The only things missing during Thursday's highly anticipated questioning of the State Board of Education by state senators was popcorn and soft drinks - and perhaps a resolution.

For more than two hours, senators grilled board members about their recent budget crisis, mismanagement of contracts and turnover issues. Few new details emerged, but board members said their mistakes were caused by staffing problems and miscommunication among employees and other agencies.

Central to the inquiries was Twin Falls attorney Laird Stone, a past president appointed in 2001 whose term ends Saturday. Senators read from a handful of e-mails between state officials and board members, which spanned the past two years that senators said showed the board's problems.

"The most disheartening part of this whole issue has been that the board has been all too willing to push the responsibility onto staff," said Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, who sparked the inquiry saying he wanted three members ousted. "The fact of the matter is - and the documents clearly show - that there were members of the board who had full and complete knowledge of what was going on and did nothing to stop it. Now, that's a problem."

Last month, senators demanded trustees meet with them to explain how $1.4 million was misspent in 2007 and why they decided to balance the budget by leaving vacant top-tier positions. The deficit led to discontinuance of state assessment tests for second- and ninth-graders for this spring and next year, and forced Gear Up, a federal grant-matching program that helps low-income kids attend college, to rely on private-sector donors.

Most questioning centered on how the board approved a request for a $750,000 supplemental appropriation by the Legislature - but never received it and still signed a new contract that led to the $1.4 million deficit now. Stone said he didn't know how it happened, but the board was assured by staff the funding would go through.

"Somebody should've been advising the board they can't enter into a contract prior to the supplemental being approved," said Sen. Stan Bastian, R-Eagle, who sits on the state's joint budgeting panel.

Several senators said perhaps there are too many responsibilities, including overseeing Idaho Public Television and the Idaho Historical Society, held by the board and cause the spending problems.

"This is so basic that it would lead to the belief possibly that the structure isn't there or there is too much responsibility that causes something like this, where you totally miss something that's so basic as the over appropriation of funds," said Sen. Tom Gannon, R-Buhl.

Stone and board members Blake Hall and Paul Agidius, said they've amended the lack of communication, and routinely referred to violations of board policy by former director Karen McGee, as well as actions by former staffers Dwight Johnson and Karen Echeverria.

Stone, who oversaw the signing of a new testing contract while he was president, also said contract requests - or "requests for proposals" - are reviewed by the attorney general's office, and that the board assumes the advice they receive is accurate.

"There may be members of this board that are attorneys, but we are not attorneys for the State Board of Education, so it is not our job to review that RFP," said Stone, who remained during the hearing. "They tell us it's good and it goes out."

But tension was not absent, including when staffing issues arose. When Jorgenson asked for details as to–why the board's chief financial officer and chief academic officer departed, Hall said the information was confidential under state law.

"If your understanding of state law as a legislator is different than mine then I'd be happy to try and have our attorney general in assisting me in responding in a different fashion," said Hall, eventually adding "some" of those workers had resigned. ISBE Interim Director Mike Rush said–the CFO position will be advertised within a week. He told the committee the same thing about a month ago.

After the meeting, which at times reflected a congressional hearing, Gannon said he was hopeful the appropriate lessons were heard.

"If people can walk away with this recognizing that responsibility sometimes extends to just what is written on a piece of paper, then we made some progress," he said.

Jared S. Hopkins may be reached at 631-793-5717 or jhopkins@Magicvalley.com