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Last updated on Wednesday, July 1, 2015
(UNDATED) - The changes made to the State Board of Education will be more visible after today’s board meeting.
The biggest of the changes will be the election of a vice chair and a secretary for the board.
The law overhauling the State Board called for those appointees to work alongside the chair of the board, State Superintendent Glenda Ritz, to foster a better working relationship between board members.
Ritz is the only Democrat holding statewide office, while all of the board's members have been appointed by Republicans - eight by Governor Pence, the other two by House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President Pro Tem David Long.
The board will also elect its own chair rather than having the superintendent automatically hold the position after the 2016 elections - Ritz is running for governor rather than re-election as superintendent, in part because of conflict over education policies with Pence.
The board will also choose from a list of 12 options when it comes to school accountability - the A-F grades assigned to schools. Those grades could fluctuate wildly from the previous year due to the new ISTEP that was longer because of the state's new academic standards.
Ritz's office is expected to recommend that the State Board assign schools the better letter grade received from either the 2013-14 school year or 2014-15 - the U.S. Department of Education is allowing the state to delay using student test scores as part of the evaluation of teachers.
Ritz had previously argued for a one-year pause in assigning letter grades, something Pence and Republicans in general oppose, saying the letter grades are a requirement for the state's waiver from No Child Left Behind rules.
Yesterday, Ritz's office argued that a one-year break in the A-F grades would not jeopardize the waiver, which has yet to be renewed for next school year.
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