How Gov. Mike Pence worked to undermine the will of Indiana’s voters
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) points to Indiana Governor Mike Pence (L) during a campaign stop at the Grand Park Events Center in Westfield, Indiana, July 12, 2016. (REUTERS/John Sommers II)
In November 2012, the voters of Indiana chose Glenda Ritz, a veteran educator, to become the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. Ritz, a Democrat, upset the incumbent, a Republican named Tony Bennett who had become a darling of the corporate school reform. She had campaigned against many of Bennett’s key policies, including merit pay for teachers tied to student standardized test scores, vouchers and high-stakes standardized testing. She won more votes than the governor-elect, Mike Pence and wound up as the only Democrat holding statewide office in the conservative state.
Pence — who has just been chosen by the Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump to be on his ticket as vice president — was upset with the voters’ choice. Pence quickly declared that he supports “the policies and the progress we’ve made on education,” and, the Evansville Courier & Press reported back then, that he and and the outgoing governor, Mitch Daniels, “began to outline strategies to keep Ritz from reversing policies she campaigned against.”
And Pence, as governor, did just that.
In 2013, Pence created a new education agency in Indiana to help further his own education agenda. It was called the Center for Innovation and Career Education, and, by executive order signed by the governor, had its own dedicated funding from state agencies and could apply federal funds as well. Ritz said she found out about its creation from news reports, not from the governor himself.
In 2014, however, Pence decided to dissolve the new agency he had created even as he made a move to have Ritz removed as chair of the State Board of Education. He successfully pushed a 2015 change in state law to make the chair of the state board not the democratically elected How Gov. Mike Pence worked to undermine the will of Indiana’s voters - The Washington Post:
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Big Education Ape: Schools Matter: The Real Story Behind Mike Pence’s Charter School Speech - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/07/schools-matter-real-story-behind-mike.html
Big Education Ape: The bigot Mike Pence and his neighbor Bruce Rauner. | Fred Klonsky - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-bigot-mike-pence-and-his-neighbor.html
Big Education Ape: BREAKING NEWS - Trump goes with anti-public education running mate - Wait What? - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/breaking-news-trump-goes-with-anti.html
Big Education Ape: The big trouble in Indiana public schools, as explained by a troubled educator - The Washington Post - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-big-trouble-in-indiana-public.html
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