When Glenda Ritz defeated then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett last November, you didn't have to be a scholar to think that there might be a bit of friction, at least initially.
After all, Ritz was the lone Democrat statewide officeholder and a teacher who'd made it clear during the campaign that she didn't have much use for the sweeping changes Bennett had implemented.
But who could have predicted that a power struggle would ensue?
It seemed as if things couldn't get much worse last month when Gov. Mike Pence created an additional layer of government to oversee state educational initiatives. For all intents and purposes, it was a second educationdepartment. At the time, Ritz says she learned of this major decision from the media, not from Pence.
Now comes word of escalated tensions between Ritz and the Republican-appointed Indiana State Board of Education.
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