Glenda Ritz loses another State Board of Education battle

After its signature squabbling, the State Board of Education took steps Wednesday to become more aggressive with chronically failing schools and ask for state funding to support turnaround initiatives.

The Board of Education will ask lawmakers to grant it the authority to step in earlier at schools after four years of consecutive D or F grades, broaden a charter strategy and, as a last resort, decide to take over an entire failing school district.

It also returned Arlington High School from outside control to Indianapolis Public Schools, contingent on the district creating its own innovative plan to improve Arlington in addition to John Marshall, Broad Ripple and George Washington high schools.

But Wednesday also brought another tense and pointed clash that state schools chief and Board of Education chair Glenda Ritz fought — and lost.

Among the recommendations to change the state's system for intervening at struggling schools were shifts that the state's superintendent of public instruction said will move power away from her Department of Education.

The State Board of Education will create its own dedicated unit to oversee turnaround interventions and handle the associated federal funds — responsibilities that Ritz said are already undertaken by her department's Outreach Division for School Improvement.

"You're really recommending that the State Board of Ed become the state's education agency" — in place of IDOE, she said.

But other board members, including Ritz's frequent opponent Dan Elsener, characterized it as a consolidation of efforts that ultimately belong under the State Board of Education's authority.

It was another battle in the political war besieging education policy in Indiana and an ongoing argument by Ritz that Gov. Mike Pence's Center for Education and Career Innovation — which staffs the State Board of Education — is trying to usurp her power.

Ritz is the only statewide Democratic officeholder, leading a board appointed by Republican governors.

"I am all about this," she told the State Board about her work on turnaround interventions. "This is my job. This is what we do at the Department of Education."

"I have authority," she added, and reiterated throughout the meeting. "I have full authority."

The spat continued as Ritz said she wasn't given an opportunity to present her office's turnaround work earlier and didn't see cooperation proposed between her office and the Board of Education. In turn, board members Elsener and Cari Whicker said they would have welcomed her input but never heard from her.

The board voted 9-2 to approve the recommended changes over Ritz's adamant protests, which Elsener called "defensive" and Whicker called an "us versus them" attitude.

The changes, however, could signal the first adjustments to state-mandated interventions since the education board took control of Indiana's worst schools in 2011. The most significant ones will require legislative action.

•It took too long, board members said, for interventions to start. So they want to lower the threshold for when the state can take action: Instead of waiting for a school to accumulate six straight years of F grades, a school could become eligible for state intervention after four straight years of Ds or Fs.

•The education board found that lead partners — outside companies brought in to support struggling schools — haven't worked well. Instead of using it as a state intervention strategy, the board is looking to encourage districts to seek lead partner arrangements on their own.

•The education board also wants to embrace the "Transformation Zone" strategy, modeled after Evansville-Vanderburgh Community School Corp. practice of grouping together its struggling schools to provide district-led supports. IPS will pitch its own transformation zone plan next year, which board member Gordon Hendry called "a significant vote of confidence" in the new leadership and reform attitude of IPS.

•Under the recommendation, the Board of Education will ask lawmakers to consider extending a charter-like strategy known as 1321 to all districts with at least one failing school. The initiative, which applies only to IPS right now, allows a management company — whether it's the district itself or a charter operator — to overhaul a struggling public school with an independently run model that's still held to accountability standards.

•The education board will request additional state funding — an amount to be determined — to support turnarounds, as a supplement to federal funds and to aid in areas such as hiring and retaining talented teachers.

Contracts with Charter Schools USA will also be extended for two years to continue takeover operations at Manual High, Howe High and Emma Donnan Middle schools.

But the meeting didn't end without another conflict.

The Board of Education also pulled back on Ritz's Department of Education policy to allow e-learning to supplant snow days. Board member Brad Oliver said the education board is in charge of school attendance.

Oliver said he supports online learning but won an 8-3 vote for more information and legislative guidance on whether the state should let school districts use e-learning days to count toward the required 180 days of attendance.

"I just think we're micromanaging snow days," countered board member Andrea Neal.

Call Star reporter Stephanie Wang at (317) 444-6184. Follow her on Twitter: @stephaniewang.