Legislative Compromise Keeps Ritz As State Ed Board Chair Through 2016

The new format and role of the State Board of Education is taking shape as the the legislative session winds down, and it appears state superintendent Glenda Ritz will keep her role as board chair under changes made to Senate Bill 1.

A conference committee for the bill released its latest report Monday, which if approved, would allow the current chair of the State Board of Education to remain in place until Jan. 31, 2017, the end of Ritz’s current term.

After that, language would require the board to elect its own chair annually from among its ranks.

The conference committee report echoes other changes we’ve seen in previous versions of SB1, including reducing its membership from 11 to nine. The governor would make only six board appointments, giving the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tem each one appointee.

Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, chaired the conference committee and says most other states have smaller state boards of education, allowing the group to be more efficient.

Another change reflected in the report would give the SBOE authority to “authorize the development and implementation of the ISTEP+ program and any other statewide testing program, including establishing criteria for content and format of the ISTEP+ program.”

Right now, this power to influence test criteria and content lies solely with the Department of Education – but Holdman says shifting some authority to the SBOE doesn’t eliminate the IDOE from the process.

“I would disagree that we give the state board all of the authority over ISTEP+,” he says. “My understanding is that we allow the department to do its job, but it has to be approved and there is oversight with the board, as with everything.”

John Barnes, Director of Legislative Affairs for the IDOE, says including the SBOE into the process of creating and implementing the ISTEP+ only makes it confusing. He cites the current testing window as an example of when it could get complicated with both agencies trying to troubleshoot issues.

“You’ve got to be able to make snap decisions, you’ve got to be able to get things done right away,” Barnes says. “There isn’t time for two different entities to consult about what’s going on, so we feel like that’s a big mistake.”

The report also establishes the board as a state education authority so it can gain access to data that board members say the IDOE doesn’t share.

The legislature has until Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. to finalize the legislation, so SB1 could be tweaked in the next few days.

Claire McInerney is a reporter with StateImpact Indiana, a collaboration of Indiana Public Broadcasting stations to explain the effects of state education policy on people’s lives. Contact McInerney at clmciner@indiana.edu or follow on Twitter: @ClaireMcInerny.