INDIANAPOLIS (AP): A top Republican lawmaker says Senate leaders are killing a proposal that would have shifted authority over the private school voucher program from Democratic state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz.
Senate President Pro Tem David Long of Fort Wayne said Wednesday that Senate leaders weren't aware the provision was included in the state budget bill.
There are other areas where Republican lawmakers would move authority from Ritz to the State Board of Education dominated by appointees of Republican Gov. Mike Pence. They include the ISTEP standardized test and new charter school grants.
Ritz spokesman Daniel Altman says the moves would leave her as board chairwoman in name only despite delaying until 2017 a change in state law allowing the board to elect its own leader.
