Glenda Ritz was elected State Superintendent in Indiana last fall. She won more votes than Governor Mike Pence.
She was elected by a bipartisan group of citizens who rejected the policies of Tony Bennett, who outspent her 10-1.
Since her election, Governor Pence and the state board appointed by him and his predecessor have whittled away the powers of the State Education Department.
They created a parallel agency and shifted some of the Department’s powers to it.
The state board voted to strip itself (and its chairperson, Glenda Ritz) of the power to revise the failed A-F grading system.
In short, the governor and his allies are trying their best to reverse the will of the voters, so clearly expressed last November.
They are trying to win by stealth what they lost at the ballot box.
They are attacking not just Glenda Ritz but democracy itself.
Ironically, the local media said that Ritz and the board and governor should stop squabbling.
Ritz felt compelled to reply. Here is what she wrote.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
How did Indiana do in NAEP with Tony Bennett’s reforms?
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Poor Glenda. This is so horrendous. Talk about abuse of power! This is truly an attempt at coup d’etate. I hope the IN judicial branch of government is not in cahoots with the powers that be there, like SCOTUS a la it’s Citizens United ruling.
We need something in place to prevent the “special interest group” called politicians from ever trying to do this kind of thing again. I don’t think our forefathers could have predicted the lengths today’s corporate-bought politicians would go to in order to deny democracy, horde power and serve their own “special interests”.
Something is very seriously wrong with a society when such heinous crimes are committed by public servants in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, because those are the people who have the power to change the rules of the game and exert their will over the populace. Who knew we were so vulnerable to a revolution from within government itself?
I thought it was outrageous when it looked like our constitutional law professor turned president guided Duncan in circumventing federal laws, such as by changing FERPA and making the Common Core Standards mandatory for Race to the Top funds. This is just as bad.
There really ought to be very serious consequences written in stone for politicians who use such maneuvers to circumvent laws, like stripping them of their US citizenship. There needs to be a law which politicians are never permitted to change themselves, too, without a vote from the majority of the populace concurring, as well as an opportunity for the populace to cast a second over-riding vote that can nullify any executive’s veto power in such a situation. You have to wonder how this is allowed to occur and whether each state’s constitution, as well as the federal constitution, need to be very carefully reviewed and amended to address it.
Best of luck, Glenda!
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Glenda is under fire, that is for sure. There is something very fishy going in my state. I am ashamed of the political servants who are obviously conspiring outside of the voters view. Most likely, there are open door laws being violated across the state.
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It makes me feel so sick to be a Hoosier these days, especially a teaching Hoosier.
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It gets better: A State Board of Education meeting on Wednesday 11/13 ended in chaos with Ritz abruptly ending the meeting and walking out. I have not yet seen it yet here on the blog, but expect to soon!
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Sadly, most Hoosiers will stay asleep through all of this. They will be so tired after wracking their brains as how to spend the $110 credit from state revenue surpluses that they will be receiving as promised by the current governor.
As a lifelong Indiana resident and a twenty-one year veteran in public schools, I have never witnessed such utter disregard for the will of the electorate as is being displayed by the current governor, the Indiana legislative body and the board of education with this current situation. Once again, we see what the influences of ALEC, the Walton Foundation, Jeb Bush, Eli Broad and the Gates Foundation can have at the state level.
While Mrs. Ritz is forced to deal with this distraction, her opponents have time to launch another “pop-a-mole” strike (one of ALEC’s favorite tricks); thus further “monkey-wrenching” any hope that she can start cleaning up the mess left after eight years of the previous governor’s Napoleonic shenanigans and four years of his head toady’s ed. reform equestrian excrement.
Sad days for Hoosier students, their parents and public school teachers and administrators will continue as long as the current governor insists on usurping the will of Indiana voters and Indiana courts allow him to do so.
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I live in Indy and am so sick of the media and Republicans trying to make Ms. Ritz out to be the bad guy. This morning on the local NPR news they said Ritz “stormed out” of yesterday’s meeting. When you choose to use a phrase such as “stormed out” you are making an editorial comment. I thought the news was suppose to be unbiased! Ritz tried to work with Pence and the SBOE for months as they repeatedly showed their distain and tried to shut her out. The minute she starts to stand up for herself (and the students and educators of Indiana) suddenly she’s being protrayed as unreasonable!?!
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