Several current and retired teachers and members of the public have let their state representative know their frustration with a bill making its way through the House.
They don’t want State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, a Democrat, to lose her position as chairwoman of the 10-member State Board of Education. Since voters elect the superintendent and that person’s role always has been to lead the board, some people feel the democratic process is being tossed aside.
District 69 Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, said House Bill 1609 would give the board an opportunity to elect its leader. Ritz would still be superintendent, remain on the board, have a vote and could even run to be chairwoman. But as it is right now, Lucas said, there’s too much dysfunction.
“We’re at a stopgap where things aren’t happening. Things are bottlenecking. They are getting bogged down, and we have too much money invested in education,” Lucas said to the more than 60 people attending Thursday’s meeting at Seymour-Redding Elementary School.
“There are policies that aren’t getting enacted. There’s information that’s not getting out, and I didn’t think it was right to continue with another two years of doing that,” Lucas said.
On Monday, the House Education Committee passed the bill, authored by Rep. Jud McMillin, R-Brookville, to the House floor with a favorable recommendation. Lucas, who is in his second term, is a member of that committee. The second reading of the bill was Thursday.
Lucas said Indiana and Oklahoma are the only two states where the superintendent of public instruction is automatically the leader of the board of education, and both currently have issues. He added that there are 36 states in which the board selects its leader, and eight others in which the governor appoints the position.
Jeremy Helmsing, a teacher at Seymour Middle School, asked why Ritz is being targeted for replacement instead of the appointed members of the board. Lucas said replacing 10 members of the board would be “incredibly time-consuming” and would waste education time for children and taxpayer dollars.
As a 10-year veteran of the military who “fought actively for democracy,” Helmsing said, he takes offense to anyone trying to remove an elected vote and replace it with an appointed position.
“I just think it belittles basically what we stand for,” Helmsing said.
Robin Ramp, a Seymour teacher, agreed, saying it’s not an education issue, it’s a democracy issue.
“It’s very scary that in a democratic nation, when an agenda is not advanced, that the controlling party can put somebody out of office or change the nature of their power,” Ramp said. “I can look past a lot, but it scares me that you (Lucas) are unable to see that this is really a fringe issue when it comes to the nature of democracy. That’s what I want you to get.”
Lucas said this bill isn’t about politics. It’s about having an efficient board.
Lucas pointed to a meeting at which Ritz came in to read a prepared statement and then walked out when she was finished, denying the board or committee members a chance to speak to her.
“Being political would just leave it alone, but that’s not fair to the children, and it’s not fair to the taxpayers,” he said. “I was duly elected, just as Superintendent Ritz was, to go to Indianapolis to do what I campaigned on. … When she refuses to participate in the process, that makes it really, really difficult and kind of puts us in a spot where we have to do something.”
On Thursday, the bill was amended to give the board time to iron out its differences and see if it can work things out by July 1. Before that move, if the bill would have gone through the House and Senate, it would have been enacted immediately.
Karen Koester, owner of The Office Center in Seymour, asked Lucas why there is a rush to change Ritz’s position as leader of the board. He said the education system gets more than half ($7.3 billion) of the state’s budget, close to $2.7 billion in property tax dollars and several billion dollars from the federal level.
“The rush is if we go through more dysfunction, keep doing what we have been doing, that’s wasted money,” Lucas said. “That’s your money, taxpayers. That’s your wasted money. Worse than that, it’s lost educational time for the children.”
Lloyd Hudson, a substitute teacher for Seymour Community Schools, said since voters around the state elected Ritz to her position, she should have more power as a chairperson. He said he feels Republican members of the committee are slanted against Ritz, and that’s what created dysfunction.
“I think she’s got a lot against her, and she can’t make changes because people aren’t agreeing with her,” Hudson said. “You (Lucas) say she’s dysfunctional because she doesn’t agree with the other committee members. They were put there to disagree with her. I think she should have a stance for education. I don’t think lawmakers know enough about education to make those decisions.”
Nancy Franke is a Seymour school board member and parochial school teacher. She said the dysfunction was rooted before Ritz took office, and voters elected her to “try to pull back the reins on an education directive gone insane.”
Franke said that, while Lucas contends Ritz could still be appointed chairperson of the board even if the bill passes, the intention is still designed to remove her as the leader.
“When is it a right of the legislative members to change the ground rules midterm, contrary to the outcome of what the people have elected a person to do?” Franke asked.
“We were voted by the people to go up there and do a job,” Lucas responded. “What I did wasn’t a Democratic or Republican thing. I voted the way I voted to get things back to working the way they should. I don’t believe one person should have that kind of power, be it Democrat or Republican. We have to get things going. We can’t keep putting up with this dysfunction.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Pull Quote” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
“It’s very scary that in a democratic nation, when an agenda is not advanced, that the controlling party can put somebody out of office or change the nature of their power. I can look past a lot, but it scares me that you (Lucas) are unable to see that this is really a fringe issue when it comes to the nature of democracy. That’s what I want you to get.”
Robin Ramp, Seymour teacher
“I fought actively for democracy, and I’ve seen a lot of people die on foreign soils fighting for democracy. As a veteran, I personally take offense to anyone trying to remove an elected vote and replace it with an appointed position. I just think it belittles basically what we stand for.”
Jeremy Helmsing, Seymour Middle School teacher and 10-year member of the military
“I think she’s got a lot against her, and she can’t make changes because people aren’t agreeing with her. You (Lucas) say she’s dysfunctional because she doesn’t agree with the other committee members. They were put there to disagree with her. I think she should have a stance for education. I don’t think lawmakers know enough about education to make those decisions.”
Lloyd Hudson, substitute teacher for Seymour Community Schools
“When is it a right of the legislative members to change the ground rules midterm, contrary to the outcome of what the people have elected a person to do?”
Nancy Franke, Seymour school board member and parochial school teacher
[sc:pullout-text-end]