INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
The Republican-dominated Indiana Legislature has taken the first step toward
removing the Democratic state schools superintendent from being the
automatic State Board of Education chairman.
A bill filed
Tuesday would allow Republican Gov. Mike Pence’s appointees to the Board of
Education to elect their own chairman, most likely ousting schools
Superintendent Glenda Ritz from the position. The bill - which Democrats say
is a political attack on Ritz - would take effect upon being signed into law
by Pence.
Senate President
Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said the board’s frequent fights with Ritz
over control of the education policy during the past two years make the
change necessary.
“You can point
fingers either way, but the fact of the matter is that it’s not working and
that’s not good for education in Indiana,” Long said. “We have to change
that. So we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s the best way to do it.”
Pence called last
month for the change to allow the board to pick its own chairman. The
longtime state law has been that the superintendent of public instruction,
who is elected statewide, is the chairman of the Board of Education, whose
other members are appointed by the governor.
Ritz is the only
Democrat holding a Statehouse office after upsetting then-Superintendent
Tony Bennett, a Republican, in the 2012 election.
Senate Minority
Leader Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, said he considered the bill a “blatant
political attack” on Ritz’s authority.
Lanane said the
current system has worked during times when the governor was a Democrat and
the schools superintendent was a Republican.
“We’ve been able to
work it out in the past,” he said. “I think this will be viewed in a very
political way.”
The bill also would
allow the board to hire its own staff independent of the Department of
Education, which Ritz leads.
Other provisions
would remove the requirement that no more than six board members be from one
political party and that at least four members be active teachers. Another
proposed change would have the governor appoint eight members, with the
House and Senate leaders each making one appointment. The schools
superintendent would remain a board member.
Long said those
proposals are among several ideas for changing the board’s makeup and could
be changed in the coming weeks.
Another bill filed
in the Senate would turn the schools superintendent position into one
appointed by the governor starting in 2021. That would come at the end of
the four-year term for whoever is elected to that office in 2016.
Long said he
expected the Senate will act on that proposal soon.
The proposal for
changes to the State Board of Education has been given the designation as
Senate Bill 1 and assigned a committee that Long leads - signs that it is a
top priority for Senate Republicans.