Tell Gov. Pence to listen to voters and veto SEA 1
05/05/2015

 

Perhaps one news outlet’s headline summed up SB 1 (now SEA 1) best: “Legislature shifts more Ritz powers to state board than expected.”

 

SB 1 may have evolved over the months as it maneuvered through the legislature, but its main consequence remained the same -- weaken Superintendent Glenda Ritz and the agency she leads, the Department of Education.

 

Besides changes to the board’s makeup, including removing Indiana’s State Superintendent as the automatic chair of the board in 2017—a position enjoyed by every state superintendent for more than 100 years. SEA 1 requires a vice-chairperson to be selected by June 1, 2015 and grants the State Board of Education additional powers.

 

Under the bill, the state board will have the ability to hire its own staff including an executive director, essentially making it a new state agency. With its new powers and new funding, the governor and legislator appointed state board will be considered a state educational agency for purposes of federal law and an educational authority gaining access to data, including student data that currently the Department of Education maintains.

 

Tell Gov. Pence to honor voters’ voices and veto SEA 1.