On the night of Nov. 6, 2012, Dr. Tony Bennett, Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, told his supporters at Lucas Oil Stadium that he had “no regrets;” in his four years in office, Bennett accomplished quite a bit including implementing new teacher evaluations, private school vouchers and an expanded charter school program.

But that night, it came to a halt. In a shocking 53 percent to 47 percent victory, Glenda Ritz, 15 year President of the Washington Township Education Association and current Library Media Specialist at Crooked Creek Elementary School, won the race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, despite having raised only a quarter of the money Bennett raised. In fact, Ritz’s campaign was almost entirely grassroots based – built on social media and word-of-mouth. Just ask her most vocal supporters: the educators.

The educators

“(I supported her) because I know her personally and I know her to be a woman of the highest integrity in education,” English teacher Amanda Richmond said.

According to science teacher Kimi Fellers, “She’s a teacher and I think she will implement common sense change.”

Still, as much as this election was about Ritz, according to history teacher Will Ellery, it was just as much a protest against Bennett.

“It was more of an anti-Tony Bennett than a pro-Glenda Ritz thing because he was kind of the tool of the State Legislature,” Ellery said. “I believe that collectively the Indiana RISE, as it is being implemented… and how they’re doing it, is creating an us-against-them situation rather than a collegial situation.”

In fact, according to Superintendent Jeff Swensson, many educators disliked Bennett because he “distrusted public education and displayed private and charter schools as better.”

“Many of us educators thought it was an important victory because one of the things that Dr. Bennett simply didn’t understand and frankly didn’t care about was the extent and degree to which he denigrated educators, both teachers and administrators, on a regular basis,” he said. “Very rarely would Dr. Bennett have anything positive to say about those of us who are educators… he just had nothing good to say and he also made a point consistently to say that public schools in particular were (inadequate). He simply left quality, excellence, and hard work and education out of the picture. The fact that he went out of his way to ensure that he was known for chastising educators and chastising public education I think bought him what he earned eventually after four years.”

The students

Before the election, senior Cameron “Cami” Trachtman worked for the Ritz campaign for an election project in her AP Government class. Trachtman, whose mom teaches English at this school, said that while her mom influenced her decision, it really was common sense.

“My mom, along with the majority of my teachers, are huge Ritz supporters, and it only makes sense that the state superintendent should be backed by professionals in the education field,” she said. “Ritz was a teacher for 33 years, so she has the experience needed.”

Now what?

Now that the election is over, the spotlight turns to Ritz. According to her campaign website, she has five goals: Giving more time to education, less time to testing; giving more control to local school districts to implement state and federal standards; making sure every child is safe and respected at school and at school activities; making teacher licensing and evaluation standards the top in the nation; and clearing the barriers to quality vocational education.

According to Trachtman, Ritz’s emphasis on less testing appealed to her as a supporter.

“Her goal is to ensure that students really learn and understand material rather than just cramming for a test,” she said.

But still, despite the victory, Ritz’s job wont be too easy as, according to Swensson, she has several roadblocks to get through.

“The perceived roadblocks would include both the (Indiana) House and the Senate being dominated by the Republican Party when Ms. Ritz is a Democrat,” he said. “Of course, Governor-elect Pence is certainly an important political leader, the other important piece in regard to Ms. Ritz and education is the Governor appoints the State Board of Education and he appoints most of the Education Roundtable, and both of those bodies have immense influence. The Roundtable hears ideas and then they pass along ideas that they feel are of merit to the state board. Ms. Ritz is a part of the State Board, but she does not command the Board. It’s not clear how much influence Ms. Ritz would have in the legislature, with the Governor, or with those two bodies.”
Ellery, however, does not believe that Ritz will be able to change much due to Governor-elect Pence and his Republican stance on education.

“I don’t think much is going to change, unfortunately,” he said, “Because the Governor-elect has already issued enough statements saying he is essentially going to try to neuter the position, that the state department of education is an appointed position and that the superintendent has to answer to them, that the state legislature can pass laws over the superintendent of education, so I honestly don’t expect significant change except perhaps (Ritz) might be able to give educators a voice in reform rather than a mandate.”