Local is better, so hooray for these two legislators:
INDIANAPOLIS — Two Republican state senators are pushing measures to decentralize school leadership in Indiana and pull the state out of a national education initiative.
Sens. Mike Delph of Carmel and Scott Schneider of Indianapolis said Wednesday they will submit bills to decentralize school curriculum decisions and end Indiana's participation in the national Common Core Standards, a set of uniform benchmarks for math and reading.
If successful, Schneider's measure would mark another rebuttal of the sweeping education changes pushed by departing state schools superintendent Tony Bennett and outgoing Gov. Mitch Daniels. Bennett and the state's education board signed off on Common Core Standards in 2010.
I'm not sure what other "rebuttals of sweeping education changes" there have been, however. I think Glenda Ritz's defeat of Bennett had more to do with a strong push by teachers and the ISTA than it did with voter dispproval of education reforms. But I think it's right that Bennett's support of Common Core contributed to his loss by costing him conservative support that could have offset the teachers' grassroots efforts.
In her campaign, Ritz promised to decentralize decision-making. If she follows through on local control, good for her -- it's one thing I can agree with her on.
