Glenda drops a house on Republicans

When a Democrat is elected to preside over a board of Republicans, head-butting and toe-stepping is inevitable.

Indiana Superintendent of Public Education Glenda Ritz inherited an uphill battle when she replaced Tony Bennett, and it is frustrating to see that partisan stubbornness has tied her legislative hands even more tightly than it appeared when she took office in January.

Currently, the lawsuit Ritz filed against her fellow Board members — on charges that they violated the Indiana Open Door law by sending a letter to urge legislative leaders to release RISE scores, which are teacher ratings, more quickly — is gaining statewide attention for the not-so-underlying resentment the Indiana Board of Education bears toward its superintendent.

Several members of the Board have already made statements of self-defense, claiming they violated no law and, according to board member Tony Walker, Ritz’s lawsuit to block the request for early grade release, unless conducted legally, is a “political ploy.”

It’s not surprising that the Board would choose to bypass Ritz’s authority and request early scores without jumping through the proper hoops. And the confirmation from Senate and House democratic leaders Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, and Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, that the department’s timetable for releasing grades is “right on track” tinges the Board’s underhanded initiatives with immature spite.

Furthermore, Stephen Key of the Hoosier State Press Association’s confirmation that it’s “rare” to see one member of a board suing the others in state politics alerts the observer to the desperate times that unquestionably called for Ritz’s desperate measures.

The obvious solution is a bipartisan, independently-selected board to support whomever the state elects to be superintendent, especially when considering Ritz has to work at odds with a conservative governor.

Naturally, Republican Governor Mike Pence has declared his support for the board — the majority of which he appointed — citing his certainty that no laws were violated and that he will continue to “work in good faith” with the board to see that the RISE grades are released and assessed in a timely manner.

Such a statement would be comforting if “good faith” had worked out in the past, but it was recently revealed that previous state superintendent Tony Bennett was secretly changing school scores to make them appear more effective. He resigned from his position in Florida in August due to the scandal, so Ritz’s insistence that proceedings pertaining to RISE scores not be left to “good faith” is certainly a breath of fresh air for Indiana’s troubled public education system.

In a joint statement, Lanane and Pelath said that “elevating cheap politics over ensuring accuracy is a far cry from what Hoosiers expect.”

Unfortunately, after years of bogus Bennett and this new stunt from the Republican board, cheap politics at the cost of accuracy is exactly what we’ve come to expect.

You have no power here. Begone, school board Republicans, before somebody drops a house on you, too!

­— opinion@idsnews.com
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