State Board of Education settles open-door lawsuit
The Indiana State Board of Education has settled a lawsuit over alleged violations of open-door laws, agreeing to pay a group of citizens more than $15,000 in attorneys' fees to drop the complaint.
The lawsuit had accused state board of education members of violating public meeting laws by circulating a letter seeking changes to the state's A-F school accountability system.
The state board, represented by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, made no admission of fault or improper conduct in the settlement reached today and filed in Marion Superior Court.
The plaintiffs, four residents who include a former Merrillville schools superintendent, agreed to drop the lawsuit.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz had filed a similar lawsuit in an unusual step against the board that she leads. Her lawsuit, which a judge dismissed last year, argued the 10 other board members were "meeting in secret" by sending emails to work around her on calculating A-F grades.
It was one of the first signs of tense political infighting that has riled the board for a year.
The state's public access counselor wrote last year that board members violated the spirit of Indiana's Open Door Law, even if they may not have technically broken the rules.
In a news release, plaintiff Ed Eiler and attorney William Groth said "the Board's agreement to pay attorney fees and court costs speaks for itself."
They also called on the General Assembly to address the ambiguity in the open-door laws over whether officials can "meet" over group emails to conduct business and make decisions.
In a statement posted on his website, board member Gordon Hendry pointed to the settlement and dismissal of what he called a "frivolous" lawsuit as indications that no laws were broken. He wrote that he "knew from the outset that this lawsuit was just a ploy to distract from the recent progress our state has made in K-12 education."
Call Star reporter Stephanie Wang at (317) 444-6184. Follow her on Twitter: @stephaniewang.