House Committee approves bills to remove Ritz as board chair and strip DOE authority
01/29/2015

 

ACTION: Contact your representative and ask them to vote “NO” on HB 1486 and HB 1609. Tell them to end the legislative attacks on Superintendent Ritz and the Department of Education.

 

In a matter of hours, the House Education Committee approved two bills Thursday to remove Superintendent Ritz as chair of the State Board of Education, as well as transferring authorities away from the Department of Education (DOE).

 

As we wrote earlier this week, HB 1486 transfers authorities and roles from DOE to the governor’s appointed State Board of Education (SBOE). It was approved by a party line vote of nine to four. In addition to HB 1486, the committee also approved HB 1609. This bill will remove the Superintendent of Public Instruction as chair of the State Board of Education.

 

Superintendent Ritz made a rare appearance at the committee meeting to testify in opposition of HB 1609.  In her testimony, Ritz pointed out that the bill is about the results of an election rather than clarifying policy roles:

 

The Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction has held the position of chair of the State Board of Education for over 100 years. Indiana chose to have its highest-ranking elected authority on education be the Chair and the 2012 elected Superintendent should be afforded this role.

 

Voters view the election of the Superintendent to be a non-partisan position. Look at the voting statistics through history and you will find that the people vote for the person that they feel can best serve Indiana students, regardless of political party. This political power move in HB 1609 and other similar bills is unnecessary and will do nothing to resolve the real governance issues that this policy-making body must address.

 

Superintendent Ritz’s full statement and video of her testimony can be found here.

 

Both bills now go to the full House for a vote.

 

ACTION: Contact your Representative and ask them to vote “NO” on HB 1486 and HB 1609. Tell them to end the legislative attacks on Superintendent Ritz and the Department of Education and allow them to do the job voters elected them to do.