Dive Brief:
- Indiana's House Education Committee on Thursday approved a Republican-sponsored proposal that would take significant power away from the state's elected ed chief, Glenda Ritz.
- The proposal makes it so Superintendent Glenda Ritz, a Democrat, would no longer chair the State Board of Education by default, additionally shifting responsibilities so that the board, which is primarily composed of Republican Gov. Mike Pence's appointees, would control issues such as teacher evaluations and testing.
- Ritz has denounced the bill as an unnecessary “political power move,” but its backers argue that it is necessary due to the number of spates the board has had with Ritz since her 2012 election.
Dive Insight:
Does the public's vote not matter? This proposal ignores the fact that citizens selected Ritz as the state's ed chief. This feels a bit like deja vu. When Pence was first elected, he removed Ritz's power over the Educational Employment Relations Board. The power struggle between the two, which has mainly consisted of Ritz's powers being stripped away, has been ongoing since.
Of course, the latest issues have been Indiana's decision to drop the Common Core State Standards and how that move led to the need for more money to go toward new tests.