The Indiana Legislature and Governor Mike Pence can’t accept the fact that Glenda Ritz got more votes in the 2012 election than any of them. They want to crush her. Would they do this to a man? Maybe, who knows? But they are certainly acting the role of bully.
They have worked out a “compromise” proposal: not to take away her office (as they would like to do) but to allow her to remain as State Superintendent of Schools until the next election in 2016. At that point, the state board (appointed mostly by Governor Pence) would choose its own chair. Meanwhile, the legislature and the governor have created another agency to manage education, and transferred most of the powers of the State Education Department to the governor’s hand-picked agency.
These men are petty, spiteful, and anti-democratic.
I have an idea: Ritz for Governor in 2016. Liberate Indiana from these yahoos.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Has any of this been challenged in court? Have there been any rulings? How can it possibly be legal for one elected official to usurp the duties of another elected official?
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As a former Hoosier teacher I welcome the idea. Ritz for Gov!
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And just look at how wonderfully this exact process has worked in Ohio.
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A young person who just moved here from California was quoted in my son’s high school newspaper saying about Indiana, “I was beginning to think that a large majority of the population was heavily religious, and that my views might not fit into such a conservative place.” Which is definitely a misconception because in our last election only 29% of eligible voters cast a ballot. When are we going to stop letting a minority of people decide what goes on in our state! If the citizens of Indiana don’t wake up, many of our rights are going to be trampled on!
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My feeling is that many of my fellow Hoosiers don’t get involved or stay home on election day because they feel their vote doesn’t matter. This article (at the link) by Robert Reich on how “Americans are Utterly Powerless” explains this, and I agree with what he has to say. What Gov. Pence has done with Ritz’s election by the people of Indiana is a prime example of this:
http://www.salon.com/2015/04/28/robert_reich_americans_are_utterly_powerless_partner/
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I would like to suggest a small correction to this article above:
“They have worked out a ‘compromise’ proposal: not to take away her office (as they would like to do) ”
They do not want to take away her OFFICE, but take away one of her DUTIES (to be chair of the State Board of Education).
Some would probably argue that taking away her chairmanship is tantamount to the same thing.
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As a 31-year teaching veteran in the Hoosier State, I’m glad that Diane airs the misdeeds by Governor Pence and his GOP supermajority.
This is the same Governor who, last month, signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) into law, then faced a $#!+storm full of criticism before suggesting a fix–which did not satisfy the evangelicals who wanted to keep the RFRA intact, nor did it satisfy the opposite camp who wanted a full repeal of RFRA.
Now however, Pence is seeing dissent in his own party, and a Howey Survey (highly respected and very accurate pollsters in Indiana) shows his popularity has slipped perilously below 50%.
For a very good digest of what happens in the Indiana Statehouse, be sure to read postings by Dr. Vic Smith, who often publishes in the Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education (NEIFPE) website and Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/NEIFPE?fref=photo&sk=photos
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As a Hoosier. My letter to the Indiana legislators. Perhaps others will join in.
I t has becoming increasingly obvious that the State Board of Education is assuming that our Governor and his politicians know more about education than our administrators and teachers in Indiana. It is being considered that the state board shall “authorize and approve the development and establishment of passing scores“. Do these kinds of actions have overwhelming support of the Superintendents and teachers, the PROFFESIONAL educators who have spent years of study and been on the firing line of education in Indiana public schools for years?
Have politicians studied child psychology, how students learn, what is age appropriate, etc. Do they understand the loss of morale, the incredible loss of people entering teacher preparedness in our colleges and universities? Does it matter?
Have the charters pushed by the governor and legislature been overwhelmingly successful?
The governor has backed the agenda of our disgraced Tony Bennett. Why? Was Bennett proven to be so perspicacious as to be given this kind of credibility?
WHY the rush into an abyss about which politicians keep assuming an ever increasing role?
The governor with the approval of his political allies are
assuming powers to stack the State Board of Education while diminishing the role of a duly elected official, demoting the role of the State Superintendent of Education to be a mere member rather than the head of this department while the governor appoints six members to the board.
One wonders if the governor is as adept at reading the public mind regarding education as he was in the infamous “Religious rights” bill he sponsored and which the legislature passed.
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As a rule, I don’t contribute to campaigns for office for which I can’t vote. But in this case, I’d likely make an exception. Going to be following this one from afar.
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Diane,
I don’t think it has anything to with these attacks being from men to a woman; this is political, and anyone who is anti-reform of either gender would be attacked. And by the way, there are plenty of female reformers who attack anyone who questions the reform movement.
Gender from either team seems not to matter here. Gender seems not to be a prime motivator; power grabs are gender blind. Nancy Pelosi is a woman, and her politics are horrendous. Chris Christie is a man, and he is a horrible bully.
Justice is blind, but so is the lust for power.
Glenda Ritz deserves justice and legitimacy. I hope she can push back against those bullies. Indiana voters should storm the capital with bullhorns and signage en masse.
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“Ritz for Governor in 2016!” Yes, indeed! That might be the ONLY thing that stops the bastards! (OR someone who is a SOLID and trustworthy ally of Ritz, who can beat the pants off of the corrupt know-nothing currently using up all of the air in the governor’s mansion.)
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