Sparks fly between Ritz, Pence over resolution before State Board of Education

The resolution, the focus of Ritz’s request to Pence, deals with the state’s No Child Left Behind waiver. If the resolution is adopted, changes to the state’s teacher evaluation model and certain requests to amend the waiver to federal education officials would require approval by the state board.

The resolution also calls into question the process Ritz’s administration used to submit the waiver request. The resolution argues the state board didn’t receive the complete waiver request with attachments that detailed the Indiana Department of Education’s work until the afternoon it was submitted.

The request is now in the hands of the federal government to review the state’s submission and decide whether to extend the current waiver by a year.

U.S. Department of Education officials alerted the state at the end of April that it was in jeopardy of losing its No Child Left Behind waiver because of problems tracking low-performing schools and the state’s exit from national Common Core State Standards, which resulted in the need for a new standardized test compliant with federal rules.

At stake is control over a slice of the more than $200 million in federal “Title I” dollars the state receives each year. The waiver offers Indiana school districts flexibility in how they can use federal money to help disadvantaged students. The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. uses $1 million of those dollars to fund its prekindergarten program.

Ritz said on Tuesday the state board and the Pence-created education agency, the Center for Education and Career Innovation, were “determined to undermine” her administration’s work.

“Let me be clear,” Ritz said in a statement. “If passed, this resolution will place our waiver in serious jeopardy. This resolution unfairly questions the honesty and capacity of my administration to implement the waiver and may result in ramifications in Washington.”

A Pence spokeswoman referred comment to the Center for Education and Career Innovation.

A spokeswoman for the agency said, “It’s unfortunate these discussions couldn’t have taken place earlier as requested by the board on multiple occasions.”

In June, board member Brad Oliver attempted to bring up a resolution detailing concerns on the waiver, but Ritz declined to add it to the agenda.

State education officials hope to receive a decision by the U.S. Department of Education on its request to extend the waiver this month. Yet, federal education officials advised Ritz’s staff this week they hadn’t yet started to review the waiver.

The resolution also makes requirements if the federal government agrees to extend the waiver, including the Indiana Department of Education giving monthly updates to the state board on how the waiver is being implemented.

Separately, the state board will review a resolution that seeks to add steps to resolve disputes on the interpretation of its operating procedures. The Indiana State Teachers Association, which sees the resolution as an attempt to strip authority from Ritz, advised members this week to contact their state lawmakers in support of the Democratic schools chief.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.