Messmer and Houchin: Why I voted for the state school board bill
From State Senator Mark Messmer:
I have had some people ask about my yes vote on Senate Bill 1.
I welcome comments to this post, but ask that they be kept respectful by everyone. It was a difficult issue to sort through and one I did not take lightly. It is unfortunate that there is so much confusion on what is going on with this issue.
Despite what you may think, this bill has no impact on the Superintendent’s role in running the Department of Education which is a state agency with hundreds of employees. It does not take her out of office and puts no limit on her ability to run for reelection.
There has been a high degree of dysfunction on the State School Board of the past two years. One of the Democratic appointments to the State School Board is Gordon Hendry. Do a Google search of “Gordon Hendry Indy Star” (Here is a story from July of 2014) and see the letter to the editor posted by him, to realize something has to be done to get the School Board to a point that they can function.
Over the last two years, our Superintendent has refused to let other board members have input on agenda items, has adjourned board meeting without completing the agenda that was set, has sued the school board, and made a $3 million dollar settlement with the testing company that administers the ISTEP test without any board input. Most recently, she made changes to the ISTEP test this past year with no board input, that were going to cause testing times to increase dramatically.
This cannot continue. The inability of this board to work together will end up hurting the students in this state.
The power to set education policy in our state as specified in the constitution is given entirely to the State Legislature. The Legislature created the Superintendent’s office to administer the policy we adopt. The legislature also created the State School Board to develop the rules to implement the policies that the Legislature sets. The Superintendent can make recommendations to the legislature to change policy, as can the Governor. The Superintendent is a member of that board, and is currently given the position of chairing the board meetings by the legislature. There is only one other state that grants the Superintendent as the automatic Chairman of the School Board.
SB 1 has several components that try to address correcting the current problems on the School Board. The most significant change it makes is changing who appoints board members. Currently, the Governor appoints 10 members, with no more than 6 being allowed to be from one party, and the Superintendent is the 11th member. SB 1 changes that to eight appointed members, allowing the Governor to have only four appointments, with the House and Senate each getting two appointments. The House and Senate appointments must be two Democrats and two Republicans. The Superintendent will be the 9th member of the board. The newly created board will then elect the chairman from any of the nine members, including the Superintendent.
There is also a provision to allow board member to submit agenda items for meetings or request items be removed, which are then voted on by the entire board. There is also a requirement that a vote be taken by the board to adjourn meetings.
When discussing these changes with a teacher on Friday while I was eating lunch and pointing out that the Governor would be losing the ability to appoint all the members, she said “Yes, that is a good idea, no one person should have that much power on the board.” I agree with that.
Currently, the Superintendent has been misusing her power and taking actions alone that are intended by the legislature to occur within the State School Board. This can’t continue.
All that gets reported by the news is there is an attempt to take away the Superintendent’s power. When I hear public servants who are focused on maintaining power, I get concerned. The Superintendent’s role is intended to be administrator of the Education Department, and she will maintain complete authority over that agency. It wasn’t that long ago that Governor Evan Bayh and the Democrats in the legislature tried to get Sue Ellen Reed removed from office and have the Superintendent be appointed by the Governor, even making it part of their party platform.
The most important issue we will deal with this session is increasing education funding in the new budget. The budget numbers released by the House this week have an increase of $470 million dollars being added to k-12 education. That is a very significant increase in funding and will help our public schools greatly, and is based on a revised funding formula that greatly reduces the funding disparity that has hurt rural schools for decades.
Thank you,
Mark Messmer
Messmer represents Bainbridge, Boone, Cass, Madion and Patoka townships in Dubois County along with portions of Gibson, Knox, Pike, Spencer and Warrick counties.
From State Senator Erin Houchin:
Addressing the dysfunction exhibited by Indiana’s State Board of Education is one of the most important issues before the General Assembly this year.
Anyone who has watched a State Board meeting in the past two years has seen how procedural conflict and a lack of trust are distracting Board members from fulfilling their statutory duties to oversee Indiana’s education system. Neither the appointed Board members, including eight educators from both the Democratic Party and Republican Party, nor the Superintendent of Public Instruction bear all the blame for this situation. Everyone involved has contributed to the dysfunction. One need only look to the terrible problems with the ISTEP+ test to see only a small part of these issues.
For the past two years, the General Assembly has given the Board and the Superintendent an opportunity to fix these issues themselves. Despite efforts at mediation, the problems are not going away. I am disappointed and frustrated as a parent of public school children by the dysfunction on the board. It’s hard to look at the current make up and think it is workable. I’ve witnessed these structural problems first hand. Further, it is the Constitutional responsibility of the General Assembly to have a fully operational State Board of Education. It’s now clear that legislation is needed to address the situation, because Hoosier students and educators deserve support from an effective, functioning State Board of Education.
Currently there are two proposals that seek to address this issue. As it is currently written, I do not support House Bill 1609, but I do believe that Senate Bill 1 is a more comprehensive and long term approach to addressing the issues with the Board. SB 1 has been mischaracterized as a bill that would remove the State Superintendent from her elected office. Senate Bill 1 does not do that. Contrary to the misleading information that has been put forth by various entities, Senate Bill 1 does not make the State Superintendent an appointed position. The Superintendent was duly elected to a four-year term, and I would not support any effort that would seek to change that. Under Senate Bill 1, the State Superintendent will still run the Indiana Department of Education.
So what does Senate Bill 1 actually do? First, Senate Bill 1 changes the membership of the State Board. It takes some appointing authority away from the Governor and gives it to the General Assembly in a bipartisan way. This will create a more balanced board, could result in fresh appointments, and will hopefully spur increased cooperation for the benefit of our teachers and students.
Second, Senate Bill 1 establishes that the State Board’s staff should be selected by and report to all the Board members – not the Governor or any other outside official.
Third, Senate Bill 1 would allow the State Board to elect its own chairperson from its members. The State Superintendent could be selected by the board to serve as chair or the board could elect another member. Indiana is one of only two states that automatically make their State Superintendent the chair of their State Board of Education. (The other is Oklahoma.) On local school boards, the superintendent is not the chair. On most corporate and foundation boards, the CEO or president is not the chair. All of these entities view the role of the executive as separate from the board chairperson, and I believe our State Board of Education will benefit greatly from the same kind of separation.
Senate Bill 1 does not pick sides in the disagreements between the Superintendent and the State Board members. Instead, the Senate is trying to seek compromise from all involved. It is a balanced approach.
You may disagree with me about what steps are needed to get the State Board of Education working again, but I hope I’ve made it clear that my reason for supporting this legislation is because I believe it is what’s best for our students, teachers and schools.
Senator Houchin serves Crawford, Orange, Harrison, Perry and Washington counties, and eastern Dubois County.
With all due respect to the senator, I find that politicians are really adroit at giving one side of a story.
I have never been so ashamed to be a resident of Indiana. It is quite disheartening that our elected officials who have sworn to uphold the values and beliefs of their constituents have gone to these measures. It is quite easy to blame Ritz for the problems with the State Board of Education. Have you all forgotten that we voted her into this position in the hopes she would begin to clean up the mess you all have created with our educational system? We made it very clear that the future of our kids’ education needed to be handled by someone who has the best interests of them in mind. Not who can create a system that shuffles money into your charter programs. She is trying to do the job that we placed her in Indianapolis for. Why did she have to walk out of meetings? Why did she have to take measures on her own? Because she is doing the work we asked her to do. The work that none of you agree with, so let’s strip her of the power the people of the State of Indiana gave to her. I would like to know just how many of your constituents you actually spoke to concerning this matter. A lunch meeting is hardly enough input on how your constituents wanted you to vote. We elected you into your position on the basis that our voice would be heard. Glenda Ritz followed through on her part, you have been a failure. The outrage you are feeling is not because of just one vote. It is the premise of which you think you have done your job. We have sat here the past two years and watched our government officials belittle and degrade the Superintendent that WE voted into office. And now that she is showing the state the incredible mess our educational system was left in by previous government officials, you cast her aside. Transparency can be a nasty thing. Voting for what you constituents feel is best for them and not voting along party lines is what is expected of you. I can only hope that the 1.3 million Hoosiers who voted for Ritz will remember this vote when it is time for your re-election. The signs welcoming visitors to our state should read: “Welcome to Indiana-the state where Democracy lost and Dictatorship prevailed.”
Very good explanation, good job Mark
The comments from Senator Messmer follow the Republican “line” on how to explain the disrespect to 1.3 million Indiana voters. If you have had the time to follow the events since Superintendent Ritz was elected, it is perfectly clear that the Republican leadership has “set her up” for this legislative action to strip her of her authority. The basic effort by the governor and legislators is to give more students to the profit making charter school companies and money to religious voucher schools. These entities return the favor with political contributions. As a graduate of Huntingburg High School, I am a committed supporter of public schools and am currently working with equally committed Republicans who are avid supporters of public schools. The Indiana Coalition of Public Education is a large group of Republicans and Democrats whose goal is to support the one million public school students and their teachers. Join us and do what is right for those students.
Both sides may have some valid concerns, but it is painfully obvious that Mike Pence started this war shortly after Mrs. Ritz was elected. It is well known that he wasn’t happy because she received more votes than he. So he decided to take control of her office by hook or by crook. He tried a couple different ways but the people and the press showed him that we could all see what he was trying to do. So he backed off and had his super majority try it from a different directon. This should be voted on by the taxpayers, not by the legislators. This way everyone will know what the people think and not what the GOP wants the people to think.
While I personally respect Mark Messmer, I disagree with his stance, his vote and his comments. Superintendent Ritz was elected by the people with full understanding that her elected position includes chairing the state board of education. He voted to strip her of a part of her position that she was elected to perform. It’s a political power move which I find unacceptable.
He is correct that she remains the head of the Indiana department of education but I have also seen work in progress that removes some authority from the DOE and transfers it to the SBOE. I see a bill to remove student data from the DOE and place it with the SBOE. I also see work in progress to remove yet more local control concerning teacher evaluations, among other things, and transfer it to the state level. I no longer trust that any educational authority will remain where it currently is so his comment concerning her continued authority over the DOE brings me no comfort.
Superintendent Ritz did not choose to lengthen the Istep test. The length of the Istep test was drastically increased as a result of Indiana opting out of the common core standards and choosing to develop their own college and career readiness standards. This shift required that the state develop their own test to assess those standards (at a great cost I might add) and in a way, this year’s Istep is three tests in one. Part of the test is similar to past exams. Another part includes new questions measuring if students learned the tougher material of the new standards. There are also questions on the 2015 test that won’t count but are being tried out so they can be used in 2016. The test is also longer because it is designed to meet requirements in both state and federal standards. (Remember Indiana CHOSE to have different standard). The governor and state board of education members claim they did not know the test would be dramatically longer. Honestly, this has been discussed in media and education circles since AT LEAST August 2014 and truthfully I think as far back as April 2014. Teachers knew it. Administrators knew it. I knew it. The governor seems to have a habit of saying “no one told me”. Sorry, not an excuse. No one told me either. They didn’t need to.
I viewed the Governor’s choice to create the CECI a blatant attempt to circumvent superintendent Ritz’s authority (and the will of the voters as it pertains to education policy) and I continue to see that effort in this newer development which he supported.
The dysfunction on the state board is clearly a problem. I have watched board meetings online and witnessed board members being rude, condescending and texting though out the meeting rather than paying attention or engaging in the dialogue. I have witnessed them refusing to discuss agenda items. I have heard Mr. Long’s disgraceful comments about our state superintendent. I am not impressed with their methods or motives and I question their ethics.
I agree that increasing state funding for schools should be of highest priority. To say that schools are not properly funded is an understatement. I also believe that all schools including public private or charters who receive state funding or vouchers should be held to same standards and not afforded special treatment or exceptions, including but not limited to testing requirements. I believe local controls should be restored and respected. I believe the assault on public schools and teachers should end.
I wonder why our republican legislators never condemned Tony Bennet?