Voices: What Indiana’s ed reform upset means
Written by Ben DeGrow on Nov 12th, 2012. | Copyright © EdNewsColorado.org
The Independence Institute’s Ben DeGrow says Colorado school reformers should pay attention to last week’s Election Day loss for Indiana Schools Superintendent Tony Bennett.
Indiana’s election results sent shockwaves Tuesday throughout the education reform world. Widely known for his bold and assertive stances on school choice and accountability, state Superintendent Tony Bennett was narrowly upended by a weakly-funded challenger.
Tony Bennett
While Mitt Romney easily secured the Hoosier State’s 11 electoral votes and conservative Mike Pence triumphed to succeed Republican reformer Mitch Daniels as governor, newly-minted Democrat Glenda Ritz gathered political support from the left and the right to upend Bennett.
Leading reform voices have been left to ponder what the result means.
In diagnosing the right’s lukewarm support of Bennett’s re-election, a growing consensus has emerged. Leading lights from RiShawn Biddle toMichael Petrilli fret over what they are inclined to see as a conservative backlash against Indiana leaders’ embrace of the Common Core standards. One key data point suggests this factor played a role, but to go beyond would be largely speculative.
In August 2010 the Colorado State Board of Education narrowly agreed to adopt the Common Core, with Republican Randy DeHoff joining three Democrats in support. While the hoped-for federal Race to the