Time To March, Ritz Army!

Time To March, Ritz Army - Complacency Is Not An Option

According to the WISH-TV/Ball State Hoosier Survey, Glenda Ritz has a seven point lead over her Republican challenger for Superintendent of Public Instruction.  The poll has Ritz with a 45% to 38% lead.  The poll does not indicate a "margin of error", so this lead may be a bit deceiving.  

This election is an important election statewide, for our children and our PUBLIC schools.  Their are races up and down the ballot that we must all pay attention to locally and statewide, as well as nationally.  We cannot let our guard down for one second and relax, thinking our PUBLIC school supportive candidates are safe from defeat.  Hoosier Voices founder Philip D. Arnold sums it up pretty clearly in a statement about this recent poll.  

Mr. Arnold says, "Ritz Army, we cannot be complacent. Polls don't matter much. VOTES matter. November 8, we must March once again to show Pence and his ponies that we have just begun to fight to take back our PUBLIC schools. Spread the word about the positive strides Glenda Ritz has made in her four years in spite of the GOP partisan politics and attempts to strip our 1.3Million votes. Make you Voices heard once again and vote to re-elect Ritz, give her a Democratic Governor in John Gregg, a pro-public education legislature by electing those supportive of our PUBLIC schools, and vote out those who have passed legislation destructive to public school goals."

After the election of Glenda Ritz in 2012, it became more evident that there were certain players out to "destroy" our traditional public schools in favor of the privatization lobby across the state.  These "Partisan Hacks" have made it a mission to spend their money electing POLITICIANS like Mike Pence, Tony Bennett, Eric Holcomb, and Jennifer McCormick to further advance their goals of shutting down our public schools in favor of the corporate run charter/private school industry to pad their wallets.  You need look no further than their campaign finance reports to see the heavy hitting players in this political game of chess to take tax dollars earmarked for our public schools to fund their corporate buddies in the charter/private school world.  Look for example at Fred Klipsch's Hoosiers for Quality Education and the money they are putting into funding the campaigns of Jennifer McCormick, Speaker of the House Brian Bosma, Senate Presendent Pro Tempore David Long, and others who are determined to do their bidding to wipe out public education as we know it in favor of the charter/private school elite.

We must actively participate to help candidates like John Gregg and Glenda Ritz win the "top of the state ballot" races, while electing local candidates in Senate and House races to take the politicians out of the game and out of our public schools.  We need to support candidates like Speaker Bosma's challenger, Dana Black, and Senator Long's challenger, Juli Dominguez, and a wave of other public education supportive candidates to take away the GOP stronghold on this state and return common sense education policy back to our teachers and public education friendly legislators.  Click the link below to see other PUBLIC school supportive candidates across the state who need our support.

Indiana's PUBLIC Education Friendly Candidates

It is imperative that we make our voices heard once again.  1.3 Million voters put Glenda Ritz in office in 2012 to stop the flawed Mitch Daniels/Tony Bennet reform practices.  Those same voters, forgot that Mike Pence (like the current GOP Gubernatorial candidate) was just another reform puppet to the corporate privatization regime.  We must remember this November that, in order to stop the push of flawed and failed reforms and sloppy destructive legislation, we must give Superintendent Ritz a Governor in John Gregg and legislators who will work WITH her and FOR our public school children and teachers.  This election is so important to the progress of our schools, the mental well being of our over tested children, and the retention of our excellent public school teachers.

Put these 1.3 Million votes to use as a strong voice to the partisan politicians who want to hoist themselves up on the backs of our children and tell them "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH".  Glenda Ritz came into the race in 2012 as a teacher, an educational leader with the knowledge and desire to help our children.  Her challenger claims the same; however, looking at her campaign contributors and her wavering stance on the Superintendent's position she appears like more of a politician ready to pounce to advance herself above being a local school superintendent into a career ready political hack like the rest of her pack.  It's time once again for the Ritz Army to march.  March into your polling place, make your voice heard and make your vote count.  It's time, Ritz Army, to stand up for what you want to do and GO DO IT!

While Indiana partisan hacks play politics, Glenda has developed a plan. Logic and Leadership are Hoosier values that Glenda brings to Indiana and to the Superintendent's office.

Thank you Superintendent Ritz for all you do to ELIMINATE ISTEP!

In Glenda's first 4 years as SPI, she has bridged the aisle between Republicans and Democrats to do what is right for Hoosier students. Let us not forget - she is JUST GETTING STARTED!

You know what they say about women that get things done?! Glenda has faced partisan political opposition head on and still gets things done for Hoosier students. We know there is a better way to measure school accountability than this bogus A-F grading system that is tied to the broken ISTEP test, and at the same time we see how Glenda has done her job in spite of these challenges handed to her.

For 4 years, Glenda has been making it happen with Career & Technical Education in Indiana and she has created positive change for ALL students by ensuring an education system of high quality that provides equity for academic achievement. "The more students can connect their everyday learning to meaningful, real world applications, the more likely they are to value higher levels of learning and persist toward their goals.” - SPI Glenda Ritz. We couldn't agree with you more Glenda and we see the value in all you have done to change CTE for the better in Indiana.  

The time is NOW to share the results of Glenda's leadership with others and re-elect her for another 4 years as Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT RITZ4ED

"TWITTER STORM" SUPPORTING PUBLIC EDUCATION

Its time for a PUBLIC ED support "Twitter Storm" in light of the Institute for Quality Education's upcoming Quality Education Celebration, celebrating National School Choice Week by celebrating school choice options in Indiana, being held in the Indiana Statehouse Atrium on Monday, January 25.

The "Storm" will run from 4:00pm Sunday, January 24 until 5:00pm Monday, January 25.  During this storm we ask that PUBLIC ED advocates post tweets that include links to great public schools data, the effects of vouchers on public schools, and any highlights of positives of Indiana's PUBLIC schools.

Recently The Institute for Quality Education took a quote from a Chalkbeat article and published it on their twitter account claiming that ISTA President Teresa Meredith "supports" vouchers.  

Here is the actual full quote from the article.

"Clearly the public is unhappy with direction our state has gone and wants to get back to common sense support for students and public schools,” said Indiana State Teachers Association President Teresa Meredith in a statement. “Students’ chances for success should not depend on winning a charter lottery or living in the right zip code.”

Hoosier Voices For Public Education founder, Philip D. Arnold, states that he believes the intention of the quote was to say Public Schools are being robbed by the use of vouchers and "scholarships" being handed out based on geography or affluent status. 

When asked about the quote, President Meredith told Mr. Arnold, "Our government is selling off Public schools with vouchers and 'scholarships'.  No kid should have to have a voucher to get a good education"

Philip Arnold points out information from reviews critical of the Friedman research cited in the Chalkbeat article. An article posted by The National Education Policy Center states, " A recent report from the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice purports .... But a new review of that report finds it is based on weak underlying research and that it misrepresents findings."  Read full article.

To show our continued support and advocacy for our PUBLIC SCHOOLS, let's flood twitter feeds with our PRO-PUBLIC ED information leading up to, and during, the big I4QED "choice" celebration.  When you tweet or post pro-public education please use #INpublicED along with any other of your "hashtags" and please tweet @i4qed @h4qed and @HoosierVoices along with others you wish to tweet to.  

In recent days Indiana's Public Education Advocates have pushed for positive moves in the current legislative session.  We need to continue our push of support and continue to show that our PUBLIC schools are worth the fight as we take on the volatile and poisonous "reform" minded legislators and the benefactors of their legislative agenda (benefactors like Institute for Quality Education, The Mind Trust, Hoosiers for Quality Education, Charter school operators , Private School financial officers, ALEC, Koch brothers, Friedman Foundation)

Can You Say Nepotism?

Let us start with a simple definition of the term.

nep·o·tism / ˈnepəˌtizəm/
noun
the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.

synonyms:favoritism, preferential treatment, the old boy network, looking after one's own, bias, partiality, partisanship

"hiring my daughter was not nepotism—it was just good business"

Now, lets look at Indiana's "nepotism law" effective July 1 2012.

Ind. Code § 4-15-7-1 : Indiana Code - Section 4-15-7-1: Nepotism

(a) No person being related to any member of any state board or commission, or to the head of any state office or department or institution, as father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, a husband or wife, son or daughter, son-in-law or daughter-in-law, niece or nephew, shall be eligible to any position in any such state board, commission, office, or department or institution, as the case may be, nor shall any such relative be entitled to receive any compensation for his or her services out of any appropriation provided by law.

(b) This section shall not apply if such person has been employed in the same position in such office or department or institution for at least twelve (12) consecutive months immediately preceding the appointment of his relative as a board member or head of such office, department, or institution.

(c) This section does not apply to the authority of the board of trustees of a state educational institution to employ any person the board considers necessary under IC 21-38-3-1.

(d) No persons related as father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, husband, wife, son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, niece, or nephew may be placed in a direct supervisory-subordinate relationship.

(Formerly: Acts 1941, c.16, s.1; Acts 1961, c.8, s.1.) As amended by Acts 1982, P.L.23, SEC.35; P.L.36-1995, SEC.1; P.L.2-2007, SEC.44; P.L.3-2008, SEC.8.

With this background information, let's take a look at the reappointment of Sarah O'Brien to the Indiana State Board of Education and her recent election as the board's Vice-Chair.  How does this appointment and Vice-Chair position relate to a possible violation of this "nepotism" law, along with a variety of potential ethics violations?  Mrs. O'Brien isn't just a 4th grade teacher from Avon who, as a Republican, was appointed to the SBOE and recently reappointed after legislative changes to the boards structure, she is also the daughter of Republican State Representative Bill Fine of Munster.  This is where the possible violation occurs.  Representative Fine is a Republican member of the House Education Committee who pushed the passage of legislation that changed the structure of the SBOE and co-authored key language that created the Vice-Chair position to share powers with the Elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz.

With the passage of this legislation, Governor Pence re-appointed O'Brien to the Board and set up her opportunity to be elected as Vice-Chair.   This selection was rumored before the SBOE met for their restructuring meeting.  The "election" of O'Brien appears to have been a done deal as part of Pence's plan when he made his recent appointments and refused to reappoint certain members who might have been more viable possibilities to be named Vice-Chair.

This may not be a clear violation of Indiana Law, but it appears to set up potential questions regarding "nepotism", board appointments, committee selections, and legislative ethics.

Indiana voters need to be vigilant in monitoring recent SBOE actions, the Governor's continued education agenda, and the co-mingling of legislators and appointed board members.  Raise questions, raise your voices, and demand transparency in all aspects of government activity.  Most importantly,  voters in Indiana need to get to the polls and vote to save our PUBLIC schools from the continued destruction and privatization planned by Pence and his wealthy corporate "reform" supporters.

Indiana's PUBLIC School Teachers "Snubbed" by Governor Pence?

Was there an intentional "snub" of Hoosier educators tonight?

Did any one notice the "snub" of 40 thousand plus educators tonight as ISTA appeared absent during Governor Pence's State of the State Address? Hoosier Voices for Public Education founder, Philip Arnold, did. He posed the following question to ISTA President, Teresa Meredith, after the address.

"Where was ISTA tonight, didn't the Governor invite the leaders of the mass majority of Indiana's educators?"

President Meredith replied, "I was not invited, however ISTA and its members are committed to making sure our voices are heard this session, on behalf of our colleagues and all of the students we serve every day."

With so much emphasis coming out early in the new session regarding teachers, attacks on PUBLIC schools, increased high-stakes testing, further expanding vouchers, funneling more tax payer monies to charters, and the attempts to dismantle the DOE by removing powers of elected Superintendent Glenda Ritz, shouldn't educators have been at the table? Shouldn’t the ones who are in the trenches daily have been represented in this process. Was this an intentional snub by the Governor to appease the Koch brothers, the tea party, and wealthy campaign contribtors to pad the coffers for the 2016 bid for the White House?

It is time Hoosiers raise their voices as they did in 2012 and prove the value of our PUBLIC schools by standing up and being counted once again. It is time to call legislators non-stop and demand our teachers, their representatives, and those who support our PUBLIC school children be invited back to the table and given a role in making realistic efforts to see our children into a successful future.

 

Pence's Players

Governor Pence is getting a good deal of "credit" for continuing the destruction of Public education in Indiana.  This credit is all well deserved; however, he should not be given sole credit for the continued efforts to destroy our Public schools for the good of his cronies in the private sector.  No, Covernor Pence is not alone in his efforts.  One need only look to the Indiana State Board of Education and the Indiana General Assembly to see the other players in this game.

We all know Representative Bob Behning(R-district 91) is a major "go-to" player in this game of keep away they are playing with our public school children.  Representative Behning made every effort to continue draining monies from our children and to take power away from the ELECTED Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz. It is up the the voters of District 91 to see that this type of nonsense is stopped.  Bob has been in the state house too long.  He needs to be sent to "retirement" where he can arrange flowers and leave our children's educations alone.

Now, Governor Pence has created a new "agency" to shadow the Department of Education.  He has appointed a leader of this agency who will be paid a salary greater than that of Elected Superintendent Gelnda Ritz, to basically assist in the sabatoage of the state agency and the will of the Hoosier voters.  Helping the governor push his agenda are his State Board of Education appointees.  Leading the charge of the Pence/Daniels/Bennett agenda is State Board member Dan Elsener.  Mr. Elsener has tried very hard in recent board meetings to highjack the meetings from the Department of Education's ELECTED official as chair of the board.  He has attempted to violate Indiana's open door laws, by maneuvering to add to the posted agenda after meetings have begun.  Mr. Elsener is a Private university president, and has no business making decisions for our PUBLIC school children.  His mission is to continue to pad the walletts of private sector cronies who will profit from the fleecing of our public schools.  Mr. Elsener has recently "cride foul" over negative emails and phone calls he has received.  He and other board members have even asked Superintendent Ritz to "call off her people".  Well, Mr. Elsener needs to know that Glenda does not "control" the voices of the Hoosier voters who elected her.  She represents those 1.3 million voters daily in her attempts to thwart the endless shenanigans of Pence and his "players". 

It is time for those Hoosier voters to once again exercise their rights as citizens.  Speak up against the continued efforts of these politicians make your voices heard.  Continue to email, call, and spread the word that these people must be stopped at every turn.  They need to know that our PUBLIC schools are valued by the majority of Hoosiers, and they must not be allowed to fund their private sector cronies any longer.  Make your voice heard.  Make your feelings known.  Email and call often, until those who have the opportunity to make things right again for our public schools are doing just that, or we demand their resignations or vote them out.

Here is contact information for Governor Pence, State Board of Education Memebers, and Representative Behning. 

Governor Pence

By Phone: 317-232-4567 By Mail:
Office of the Governor
Statehouse
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-2797
http://www.in.gov/gov/2333.htm

Representative Bob Behning. - h91@iga.in.gov - 1-800-382-9841 - R

State Board Members

Chair	Glenda Ritz Superintendent of Public Instructiongritz@doe.in.gov	Room 229 State House Indianapolis, IN 46204
First Congressional District	Tony Walker tony@walkerlawgroup.biz	363 S. Lake Street Gary, IN 46403
Second Congressional District	David Freitas drdavidfreitas@comcast.net	1700 Mishawaka Avenue South Bend, IN 46634
Third Congressional District	Cari Whicker cwhicker@hccsc.k12.in.us	Riverview Middle School 2465 Waterworks Road Huntington, IN 46750
Fourth Congressional District	Sarah O’Brien smobrien@avon-schools.org	River Birch Elementary School 5456 East 75 North Avon, IN 46123
Fifth Congressional District	Andrea Neal aneal@inpolicy.org	7034 N. Park Ave Indianapolis, IN 46220
Sixth Congressional District	Brad Oliver brad4education@gmail.com	Star Buidling, Office 143-B Indiana Wesleyan University 1900 W 50th Street Marion, IN 46935
Seventh Congressional District	Daniel Elsener delsener@marian.edu	Marian University 3200 Cold Springs Road Indianapolis, IN 46222
Eighth Congressional District	B.J. Watts bj.watts@evsc.k12.in.us	11148 Saint Wendel Road Evansville, IN 47720
Ninth Congressional District	Troy Albert talbert@wclark.k12.in.us	Henryville Jr. Sr. High School 213 N Ferguson Street Henryville, IN 47126
At-Large	Gordon Hendry education@gordonhendry.com

TIME TO PREPARE FOR 2014, 2016, AND BEYOND

Remember November 2012? Well it is time to start preparing for the 2014 election cycle. Together we crossed party lines to vote for Glenda Ritz. We must do it again to vote for PUBLIC education. We must identify pro-PUBLIC education candidates for 2014 and look toward even bigger changes in 2016. True change cannot be made by just electing Glenda Ritz. She needs support from the legislature and the Governor's office to fully support our PUBLIC schools. Let's once again work together to elect representatives who will fully support our children's public education in Indiana.