Top Pence Education Adviser Taking Foundation Job

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's top education adviser will be leaving the Statehouse to become president of a foundation that's helped fund a group encouraging charter schools in Indianapolis.

The Indianapolis-based Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation says Claire Fiddian-Green will become its top executive effect in February.

Fiddian-Green is now a special assistant to Pence and co-leader of the governor's Center for Education and Career Innovation. That agency Pence created in 2013 has frequently clashed with Democratic state schools superintendent Glenda Ritz over control of state education policy.

Pence said Thursday that he was dissolving the center in February to help improve dealings with Ritz.

The Fairbanks Foundation has given grants to The Mind Trust education reform group. Fiddian-Green is a former president of that organization.

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