Questions unanswered
In light of the disclosure of emails exposing the state’s A-F grading formula as rigged, legislators and the governor are left to answer these pressing questions, perhaps at Pence’s town meeting in Fort Wayne today:
•Should millions of tax dollars be handed to private and parochial schools for students allowed to leave public schools on the basis of a now-suspect D or F grade?
•Should a school be subject to takeover by a private company for repeated failing grades, given the arbitrary design of the formula?
•What would you do if teachers or administrators were caught manipulating data to benefit themselves or an interest group?
After Democrat Glenda Ritz defeated incumbent State Superintendent Tony Bennett last November, Gov. Mitch Daniels lashed out at public school teachers.
“If you are a fan of anything-goes politics, it was a creative use of illegal – but still creative use – of public resources,” Daniels told an education reform group in December. “We got emails sent out on school time by people who were supposed to be teaching someone at the time, all about Tony Bennett.”
The former governor never produced those emails, but Tom LoBianco of The Associated Press has uncovered an email trail far more disturbing: Bennett’s frantic effort to manipulate the state’s A-F grading formula to the benefit of a wealthy campaign contributor. Their disclosure begs for response from lawmakers and Gov. Mike Pence.
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