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Last updated on Friday, December 5, 2014
(INDIANAPOLIS) - Governor Mike Pence says his 2015 agenda will focus on education. But his comments Thursday will likely stir more controversy among the state’s educators.
Speaking at a legislative conference at the Bingham Greenebaum Doll Legislative Conference in Indianapolis, Pence said, "we've all been frustrated" over the controversy involving the Indiana State Board of Education.
Pence said Thursday he would seek to have appointees to the State Board of Education elect their own chairman. That effectively puts State Schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz's job overseeing the board in jeopardy.
Ritz currently leads the board but has clashed repeatedly with its members. The battles have fueled a push by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce to make the superintendent's job appointed instead of elected.
Pence says he will dissolve Center for Education and Career Innovation, the second education agency he created that has been at the center of some of the clashes with the Ritz-led Department of Education.
The education overhaul will be the centerpiece of Pence's 2015 legislative agenda.
Ritz claimed that shifting oversight of career readiness programs to the new center violated Indiana law. She also sued the Board of Education, accusing them of taking action in secret and violating the state's Open Door Law.
Pence cited 100,000 students in D and F schools across the state and said it's up to lawmakers to "fix what's broken."
The governor believes part of the solution is more money for education to reward good teachers and to fund pre-K pilot programs. The Indianapolis City-County Council just passed a program to help 1,200 children over the next several years.
Pence also said he wants the State Board of Education to elect its own chairman. He will ask lawmakers to make the change.
The governor's talk comes as he and his supporters are increasingly floating his name for a White House run in 2016.
The Republican governor has been apprehensive about providing details or pushing for specific legislation during his first two years in office. Instead he has typically talked about broad ideas and asked lawmakers to fill in the details.
The approach has yielded mixed results despite the overwhelming number of Republicans in Indiana's House and Senate. His proposed tax cuts have been watered down, as was a pre-school plan.
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