It’s a mess in Indiana
It’s hard to know exactly how to explain the mess, or, as Indianapolis Star writer Tom LoBianco termed it, the “true political disaster … at hand,” in Indiana over the issue of public education, or rather, what passes for public education policymaking in the state.
We have the Republican leadership of the state — including the governor, Mike Pence — trying to strip powers from Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, a veteran educator who won election to the post in 2012 by defeating Tony Bennett, the incumbent who was a protege of former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
We have Pence suddenly seeking to halve the length of a new standardized test — from 12 hours to six — just weeks before it is supposed to be given to students.
And we have various players in the debacle blaming each other while students, teachers and parents can only look on in horror and wonder how it will all play out.
Why is this happening?
It seems important to note that these two facts are not unrelated:
1. There is strife between Ritz and other statewide officials.
2. Ritz is the only Democratic statewide officer in Indiana.
2. Ritz is the only Democratic statewide officer in Indiana.
Republicans in the state have been furious with Ritz since she won, because she won, and have been looking for ways to take away the powers she holds as chairman of the policymaking State Board of Education. That position has long been awarded by state law to the elected superintendent, at least until now.
The Indiana House approved a bill Monday, 58 to 40, that would remove Ritz from her position as chairman of the State Board of Education and change the law that now awards that post to the elected state superintendent. The bill goes on to the Senate, where it is expected to be approved by the Republican majority. The bill would allow board members, who are appointed by the governor, to pick their own leader.
As for the tenor of the discussion, David Long, the Republican president of the Indiana Senate, said by way of explanation for why the legislature would want to remove her as board chair: “In all fairness, Superintendent Ritz was a librarian, okay?” (Actually, Ritz worked as an educator and media specialist who won teacher of the year awards at two different schools.) David Bangert of the Lafayette Journal & Courier noted in this piece that “there aren’t too many nice ways to interpret that statement,” It’s a mess in Indiana - The Washington Post: