In Denial in Indiana [View all]

[caraher]

One of the best results on election day was the resounding defeat of Tony Bennett, GOP head of the Indiana school system and supposed rising star of the movement to replace public schools with charters. I've been amazed at the absurd level of denial in the public rhetoric of officials desperate to paint the unexpected victory of the grassroots Glenda Ritz campaign as anything but a firm rejection of their "reform" movement by the electorate. Ritz was given zero chance and had a fraction of Bennett's money but won with a campaign waged largely through the efforts of fed-up teachers and their use of Facebook. (She was given so little regard in the media that well into the election season, the Indianapolis Star's lead education writer wrote a piece on Bennett's plans that basically said his re-election was assured, so let's talk about what we can expect in the future from him...)

Today I wake to the whining of our execrable governor, the man with the inexplicable reputation as a fiscal whiz despite a record that includes service as W's budget director, losing track of hundreds of millions of state tax dollars while laying off public employees including teachers (coincidence or deliberate malfeasance?), and selling off the state's toll road to a private entity and burning through proceeds so fast that completion of a new segment of Interstate 69 is stalling for lack of money. According to Mitch,

"If you're a fan of anything-goes politics, it was a creative use of illegal -- but still creative use -- of public resources," Daniels said Wednesday at a Washington, D.C., meeting of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a group led by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. "We got emails sent out on school time by people who were supposed to be teaching someone at the time, all about Tony Bennett. We have parents who went to back to school night to find out how little Jebbie is doing and instead they got a diatribe about the upcoming election."

Of course, he has no evidence of any laws broken, or even a juicy anecdote to share about a teacher going off the rails at a parent-teacher event.

Face it, Mitch - we don't want any part of your "reforms!" When you get your ass kicked despite a huge funding advantage, in a state where Republicans won a supermajority in the legislature, it's pretty safe to say you're the one who is out of touch regarding education. God help Purdue (where Mitch's appointees awarded him the university presidency, which was of course totally ethical - the trustees he appointed investigated themselves and found it to be so!)!