Monday's move by Gov. Mike Pence and Republicans to remove Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz as chair of the State Board of Education is just the latest play in an ongoing power struggle between a state government controlled by a Republican super majority and the lone Democratic statewide office-holder. A bill has gone through the Indiana House and is at this moment waiting on action by the Senate to strip Ritz of her chairmanship.
Education is a complicated business, and this brouhaha isn't helping local educators who are eventually going to have to pick up the pieces when it's all over. What needs to happen now is for Pence and the Republicans to back off and let Ritz do her job.
Sure, there is going to be a political aspect to education, and there are some legitimate issues. The latest is a fight over the length of the ISTEP+ tests, with Pence saying the test — at 12 hours — is too long and ordering that time cut in half before the midyear test schedule - although it is questionable whether he actually has that authority. To demonstrate further the chaos of it all, according to a Washington Post report," Daniel Altman, press secretary for the Indiana Department of Education, said that the test was lengthened to comply with federal mandates and the Pence-approved new state standards."
It has gotten personal and that is a shame. Everybody wants to talk about making changes "for the sake of the children." But Pence and Ritz have a long history of conflict, and caught in the middle are those very students along with their parents who have entrusted their children to the Indiana educational system and the educators on the front lines trying to make that system work.
The education of our children should be viewed as a community endeavor. Real leadership would involve Pence and Ritz finding common ground where the quality of education was the first priority — not who gets credit for an uptick in scores or state rankings.
Of course it is unlikely that will happen but voters shouldn't be fooled when they issue report cards come election time.
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