A Month of Misleading Education Misinformation From Governor’s Appointees

The month of July was a blitz of guest commentaries from the Governor’s State Board of
Education and “shadow department of education” (known as Center for Education and Career
Innovation a.k.a. CECI) appointees to influence the public that Glenda Ritz is the problem and
not them.

No less than three commentaries appeared in The Times. Two were from members of
the State Board of Education (Tony Walker and Gordon Henry) and one from Ashley Gibson of
CECI. All of them placed full responsibility on State Superintendent Glenda Ritz for the State’s
probationary status by the US Department of Education regarding its No Child Left Behind
Waiver. In addition, the CECI executive director publicly undermined the State Superintendent’s
waiver submission to the feds thereby exacerbating the dysfunction and putting the waiver in
jeopardy.

Times reporter, Dan Carden, accurately reported last June that the USDOE based its
complaints on what occurred during Tony Bennett’s tenure, NOT RITZ’S TENURE. Bennett
promised the feds to implement Common Core and participate in a Common Core testing
consortium. The Republican dominated Legislature put Common Core on hold. The State
Board of Ed officially rejected Common Core.

Tony Walker and Ashley Gibson reported that the USDOE cited concerns that the
Indiana Department of Ed “could not demonstrate adequate assistance to failing schools or an
adequate evaluation system…”. What they left out, as reported by Dan Carden, was that the
time period of concern was from February, 2012 to August, 2013 - primarily Tony Bennett’s
tenure. Glenda Ritz took office January, 2013.

Further, Tony Bennett’s philosophy of “assistance to failing schools” was takeover by
Charter Schools. The DOE was gutted of education specialists and school support staff at the
start of his tenure. There was a legislative philosophy of “flight and abandonment” of public
schools in favor of unproven Charter Schools and uncontrolled tax dollars for vouchers for
students already in private schools (now at $16 million which exceeds State budgets of only $5
million for non-English speakers, $10 million pre-school, $13 million for Gifted, and $0 for
teacher development).

The responsibility for improving pubic schools was abdicated by Bennett and the
Legislature and only now resurrected by Glenda Ritz’s outreach counselors for underachieving
schools.

Update: the civil lawsuit against the SBOE has been allowed to continue. At stake is
whether State Board members can conduct “meetings” electronically among themselves to gain
agreement and carry out formal action (even awarding contracts) prior to a public meeting. This
“strategy” has recently evolved into the SBOE’s proposal to allow itself unprecedented authority
to circumvent the State Superintendent and present new agenda items without advanced notice
to the public, or the State Superintendent, and then vote on them immediately.

1.3 million voters elected Glenda Ritz because they were dissatisfied with Tony Bennett’s
abandonment of public education. A new effort is underway to coordinate those same voters to
elect pro-public education candidates, hold legislators accountable for making public education
funding a priority, and equalizing accountability for any recipient of public tax dollars. Stay
tuned.

State Chamber Diatribe on HS Counselors Another Example of Hypocritical Public School Funding Decreases

In a recent letter to the editor, Derek Redelman of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce,
claims that school counselors aren’t meeting student needs regarding preparation for college
and careers. His source of information is a survey conducted by the Chamber regarding how
much time school counselors spend on various school duties. Based on the fact that the majority
reported that they only spend 25% of their time on post-secondary counseling, Mr. Redelman’s
implies that counselors aren’t properly doing their jobs to meet the Chamber’s vision of
having 90% of high school graduates properly ready for college or career training.

This reveals the incredible hypocrisy of business and legislators who expect their needs
for a highly qualified workforce (at perhaps the lowest entry level pay possible?) to be a priority
for schools while at the same time decry excessive school spending and then legislate for reduced
and diverted public school funding. Big business, and big business legislators, push for
business tax cuts that significantly reduce State revenue, then insincerely bemoan the lack of
revenue for school funding.

Counselors are considered, by the State, as “instructional support” and not in the same
category as classroom teachers. When schools are forced to make personnel cuts where does
everyone think they make the first cuts? Answer, instructional support staff.

The vast majority of high schools in Indiana don’t meet the recommended ratio of students
to counselors. When “non-essential” support staff and administrators are reduced, how
are the tasks regarding student attendance, enrollment, course selection, monitoring passing
and failing, course selection re-scheduling, administering State exams, SAT, ACT, processing
new enrollments, withdrawals, etc. going to be re-assigned? In most cases, the first person
sought out are counselors (those that are left after cuts are made). These tasks are added to
their responsibilities to not only give guidance for course selection, college choice, scholarship
applications and other post-secondary career planning, but also to deal with personal conflict,
family trauma and social, medical and personal complications for individuals and their peers.

When the expectations are to not only get more students to graduate, but to also graduate
at a higher achievement level, it is not just the classroom teacher that makes that happen. It
is the result of also having sufficient “instructional support” staff as well.

If legislators and business people would realize that the answers to better prepared
graduates are not to be found in minimally prepared “adjunct teachers”, hired at lower salaries,
bare bones funding for public schools forcing them to reduce “instructional support staff” (like
Counselors), diluting the educational landscape with a flood of underperforming Charter
Schools, or simply diverting public school funding with a type of “musical chairs” movement of
already high performing students from public to private schools, perhaps they would not make
business tax cuts a priority over proper funding of public schools. Then, there could be sufficient
Counselors and other support staff to actually meet the needs of our students, as well as,
of course, the goals of our esteemed State Chamber of Commerce.

State Board of Ed Real Life “House of Cards

Just like the despicable back room government machinations that take place in the TV
show “House of Cards”, the Indiana State Board of Education (SBOE) and Governor have proceeded
to manipulate education policy procedures regardless of public preference or even legislative
promulgations.

Glenda Ritz received 1.3 million votes to oust Tony Bennett and his policies even before
it was discovered that he changed the school grading parameters to make the Charter School
performance of a wealthy donor reach “A” status, and before he admitted to unethical political
use of his staff on the tax payer’s dime.

As Glenda Ritz revealed herself to be a true professional educator with the best interests
of students in mind, not political platforms, the Governor autonomously created a parallel Department of Education named CECI (Center for Education and Career Innovation) to ensure political agendas would be forced on the public.

The SBOE has now put in place procedures that allow it to override any decision or proposal
from Supt. Ritz.

The CECI has publicly second guessed Supt. Ritz’s federal funding waiver, putting millions
of dollars of federal funding at risk.

Supt. Ritz’s educationally sound proposal to add Reading to the State assessment has
been rejected by Governor.

The SBOE, against the judgement of every professional educational organization in the
State, is moving towards approving “adjunct” teachers who would have no formal training.

The State Legislature banned growth measures that use peer growth comparisons of
students based on ISTEP scores, the SBOE is taking action to continue this practice anyway.

The SBOE has just given itself permission to raise any proposal for a vote without any
advance notice to the public.

Perhaps the writers of “House of Cards” will borrow SBOE minutes as a script in an upcoming
episode.

Voice disapproval at www.in.gov/gov/2333, rguffin@ceci.in.gov, tony@walkerlawgroup.
biz (local SBOE rep)