House passes bill that would allow State to remove Glenda Ritz from board

[bwframe]

From Lucas' Facebook post on this topic
FACTS! FACTS! FACTS! Get the FACTS and THINK FOR YOURSELF!
The biggest misunderstanding I keep hearing about HB1609 is that it "takes away the will of the 1.3 million people that elected Superintendent Ritz".
Take a deep breath, it does NOT do that!
Here's the quick skinny for those that want to know the facts:
1) The Indiana Legislature passes laws and determines funding.
2) The SBOE (State Board of Education) adopts rules and sets goals.
3) The SPI (Superintendent of Public Instruction) IMPLEMENTS the laws and rules that the Legislature passes and SBOE adopts.
4) Under current law, the SPI is also the Chair of the SBOE.
5) The duty of the Chair is to ensure that the Board or Committee functions properly and fulfills its duties and responsibilities.
6) The SBOE is comprised of 11 members, 10 of which are appointed by the Governor: the SPI, 1 appointed representative from each Congressional district and 1 At Large.
7) There can only be 6 members from the majority political party, with the remaining 4 members from the minority party. A MINIMUM of 4 members must be actively employed in Indiana schools and hold a valid teaching license. Our current Governor-appointed Board has all but two education involved members, ranging from elementary school teachers to university presidents. ALL are HIGHLY RESPECTED members of the education community. Read about the Board here - SBOE: Board Members
8) There has been MAJOR dysfunction on the Board. Type in "indianapolis star sboe Ritz" on your browser to read for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
9) HB1609 merely allows the SBOE to elect their own Chair. Period. Nothing more. Nothing less. Currently, Indiana and Oklahoma are the only two states in the country that have the SPI automatically Chair the SBOE, and both states are experiencing major dysfunction. 36 states allow the SBOE to elect their Chair and 8 states the Governor appoints the Chair.
10) Under HB1609, the SPI IS STILL on the SBOE. The SPI STILL has a vote. The SPI CAN STILL run for Chair.
11) HB 1609 DOES NOT AFFECT the powers of the SPI to do their duty of implementing laws.
12) Superintendent Ritz testified before the House Education Committee on Tuesday the 3rd and read a prepared statement. She then walked out of the meeting, without being dismissed, and prevented the Committee from asking questions and prevented millions of Hoosiers from hearing HER side of the multiple stories reporting the dysfunction of the SBOE.
13) It is being widely reported that HB1609 "takes away the will of the 1.3 million people that elected Superintendent Ritz".
14) A Board/Committee has to be able to function efficiently to perform its lawful duties and it is up to the Chair to ensure that that happens. Period. When that fails to happen, the Legislature has a lawful and moral duty and obligation as elected officials (same as the SPI) to make sure that the Board is given the tools necessary to properly perform its lawfully required duties.


What of the will of the millions of Hoosiers that elected:
A Republican Governor?
A Republican Lt. Governor?
A Republican Attorney General?
A Republican Secretary of State?
A Republican Auditor?
A Republican Treasurer?
A Republican supermajority in the House with 71 Republicans?
A Republican supermajority in the Senate with 40 Republicans?

Hmm facts, they seem different from the stories being told, eh?

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Hmm facts, they seem different from the stories being told, eh?

In previous threads, we're told that direct action or remedies outside the electoral process is not only OK but a moral imperative if it accomplishes desired goals. Now, in this thread the will of the people is paramount and must be allowed to stand...I'm confused. Being an INGOtarian is more complicated than I could imagine.

 

[hornadylnl]

In previous threads, we're told that direct action or remedies outside the electoral process is not only OK but a moral imperative if it accomplishes desired goals. Now, in this thread the will of the people is paramount and must be allowed to stand...I'm confused. Being an INGOtarian is more complicated than I could imagine.

Kind of like those supporting the activist judges in Alabama who are blocking gay marriages?

 

[bwframe]

Panel backs allowing Indiana board to replace Ritz as leader - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

A proposal allowing the Indiana State Board of Education to replace Democratic state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz as its leader is now heading to the full state Senate.

The Senate fiscal policy committee voted 9-4 along party lines Tuesday to advance the Republican-backed measure.

The GOP-dominated House on Monday approved a similar bill that supporters of Ritz say would disenfranchise voters who elected her as superintendent in 2012.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Kind of like those supporting the activist judges in Alabama who are blocking gay marriages?

We like activist judges...right?

Or do we want the will of the people to be paramount?

 

[mShu7]

I haven't really read the details on this debate, but just hearing about it reaffirms our decision to home-school.

 

[JTScribe]

The same majority that removed the Daniels/Pence supported Tony Bennett from office and elected Glenda Ritz? You must mean that the majority of voters who elected Glenda Ritz to be Superintendent of Education disagree with her views on education.


I hope you wouldn't have complained if the Democrats stripped our gun rights even further when they had big majorities during the Bush years. I mean, the voters did elect them after all.

There were a huge number of grassroots Republicans who voted for Ritz because she claimed she was against Common Core, and Bennett was a big proponent of it. Myself being one of them, and I even got a response from her on Facebook saying that she was against Common Core and would do all she could to stop it.

Well, guess what. She didn't do jack to oppose Common Core, and say what you will about our 'revised' version, it's still Common Core. She won't have nearly the same popular support next time around.

 

[bwframe]

We need to develop a means of holding public servants accountable for their actions. Any other employee understands that they can be fired for their actions at any time.

 

[LP1]

OK. So no facts. Just disgust over what may be an over step by the legislature. I'll have to defer as this is an area about which I'm not so sure.

No facts?? Reread my post. An effort is underway to prevent a duly-elected officeholder from performing the duties of the office to which she was elected. How much more of a FACT do you want?

If you are not insulted by the imperious actions of a politician, then you deserve a government that will not honor your vote.

 

[hornadylnl]

So were all previous superintendants automatically appointed to the chairman position of this board as per the rules? Wouldn't this be like passing a law to strip the president of his commander in chief duties because the opposing party in congress doesn't like how he's doing his job?

 

[Cynical]

So were all previous superintendants automatically appointed to the chairman position of this board as per the rules? Wouldn't this be like passing a law to strip the president of his commander in chief duties because the opposing party in congress doesn't like how he's doing his job?

I prefer EVERYBODY plays by the rules. It doesn't feel good when the other side signs executive orders to sidestep the process. It's kind of like the president doing his own thing cause he doesn't like it. I'm kind of ashamed to say it, but it seems fair now, that the electoral process has been bastardized.

 

[mrjarrell]

So were all previous superintendants automatically appointed to the chairman position of this board as per the rules? Wouldn't this be like passing a law to strip the president of his commander in chief duties because the opposing party in congress doesn't like how he's doing his job?

Close, but it would be because the CIC was from the opposite party and not anything else. They were quite happy to have the corrupt former republican have all the same powers.

 

[Thor]

According to Section 8 of Article 8 of the IN Constitution

Section 8. There shall be a State Superintendent of Public Instruction, whose method of selection, tenure, duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law.

The legislature can assign her what duties they see fit. Could also reduce her salary to .50c. It is entirely in the lane of the legislature to assign what duties they see fit and all they are doing with this bill is removing her as the chair unless the board sees fit to assign her that, which the bill does not prohibit.

I think this is all because of the bungled implementation of common core light and the new fiasco of the ISTEP.

 

[87iroc]

Hmm facts, they seem different from the stories being told, eh?

I didn't get this when I read it on FB...

What of the will of the millions of Hoosiers that elected:
A Republican Governor?
A Republican Lt. Governor?
A Republican Attorney General?
A Republican Secretary of State?
A Republican Auditor?
A Republican Treasurer?
A Republican supermajority in the House with 71 Republicans?
A Republican supermajority in the Senate with 40 Republicans?

This same group of voters elected Ritz in to office. He espouses that like its a different set of voters that elected her.

 

[bwframe]

...This same group of voters elected Ritz in to office. He espouses that like its a different set of voters that elected her.

The super majorities came last year, a couple years after Ritz. Buyer's remorse? Intentionally voted in to do just what they are doing?

 

[kiddchaos]

Republican supporters of the House measure -- which would allow the governor's 10 appointees to the 11-member board to select a new chairman source

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Superintendent_of_Public_Instruction

Pence and crew are screwing our ability to elect someone.

 

[bwframe]

Here's what Abdul thinks of this:
Now That You?ve #StoodwithRitz, #PleaseSitDown | INforefront - Indiana political commentary

...There are days when I think the only thing more “funny” than Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz is the folks who follow her. I call them “Ritzbots”.

Over the weekend, the Ritzbots got on Twitter and using the hashtag #StandwithRitz sent about 13,000 tweets across social media to Indiana lawmakers demanding they keep the dysfunction going over at the State Board of Education by not changing the law so the Board can appoint its own chairperson instead of Glenda automatically having the job.
They failed 58-40 in the Indiana House...

 

[JTScribe]

The super majorities came last year, a couple years after Ritz. Buyer's remorse? Intentionally voted in to do just what they are doing?

As I posted before, Ritz was voted in because of her supposed opposition to Common Core. The fact that she bent over and accepted Common Core Lite has made a lot of the people on the right who voted for her extremely upset.

 

[mike trible]

I think that Ritz got elected because people realized how bad Tony Bennett had F#%ked the job up before.

 

[Thor]

SB1 which does the same thing to the chairperson goes much further in reordering the responsibilities, composition, and reporting of the board. It moved to engrossment yesterday 40/10.