Educator eyes House seat
Former superintendent Ritter enters political field.

It’s not that Jim Ritter’s hiatus from public life was dull.

Since his retirement as superintendent of Columbia Public Schools three years ago, Ritter headed a group of prominent Columbians that raised funds for the YouZeum science center. He was on the Reality House board of directors, the board of the Columbia Public Schools Foundation and also took time to care for his 92-year-old mother.

"Those things took up about half of my time," he said, "then I could do whatever I chose to do: read, do physical fitness kinds of things, things that I had struggled to really have time to do when I was superintendent of schools.

"So I thoroughly enjoyed retirement," he added. "I’m not jumping into a political race because I didn’t have anything to do."

Rather, Ritter said he’s getting into state politics out of a sense of gratitude for the generosity the city of Columbia gave him from decades of service in the public school system. He is running against Columbia resident Sid Sullivan in the Democratic primary for the 24th District Missouri House of Representatives. The winner of that contest faces incumbent Rep. Ed Robb, R-Columbia, in November.

Unlike Sullivan, a relative newcomer to the district, Ritter has been a fixture in public view of many Columbia residents for decades.

Ritter grew up in Brookfield and attended the University of Missouri-Columbia in the late 1950s, earning a degree in American history. Except for a four-year stint as the dean of students at Truman State University, Ritter stayed in Columbia for the following three decades, working at Hickman High School as a teacher, counselor and administrator.

He retired as the associate superintendent of the school system in 1991, and he became the coordinator of supervision for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He also served as the associate executive director of the Missouri School Board Association.

In 1998, the Columbia Board of Education asked Ritter to become the superintendent of the Columbia Public School systems. He retired from the position in 2003.

Ritter said his time working in public life gave him a good feel for the people in the community.

"Having the opportunity to not only serve the school district, but to also be involved in numerous community organizations in Columbia and Boone County, I think has given me a good understanding of the values of the people who live in this community," Ritter said.

Ritter’s longtime friend and colleague Chris Mallory said he wasn’t surprised that Ritter would end his retirement.

"Jim loves this community and is committed to any opportunities to serve," Mallory said. "He’s one of those kinds of guys who views his responsibility as serving the public and paying the community back for all the community’s done for him."

Part of that responsibility, Ritter said, is making sure the state’s education system is in top order. He plans to make the issue his top priority if elected. Ritter said the new foundation funding formula tried to address equity for the K-12 public schools in Missouri, but he said lawmakers need to also look at adequacy.

He said education funding is important to maintain small class sizes, build facilities and serve "diverse populations." He said it’s also a factor in enticing the best educators to teach children.

"I think what we need to do is make sure we’re adequately funding education," Ritter said. "Adequate funding is required to pay our teachers better and attract the very best people that we possibly can."

Another aspect of the state education system Ritter would like to see changed is the state requirement that forces an educational bond initiative to pass with at least 57 percent of the vote. He said that margin could hinder expansion at growing institutions, such as Southern Boone County High School.

"I would be very interested in presenting legislation that would bring that down from 57 percent to just a simple majority in order to pass," Ritter said. "If I won this election by 57 percent over my opponent’s 43, that would be a landslide. And yet that’s what we’re asking."

Ritter said he takes umbrage with a recently-signed bill to require photo identification in order to vote, saying he would have voted against the bill "in a heartbeat."

"We will have a number of people who are disabled, who are elderly, who don’t have identification cards," Ritter said. "I could lose my wallet the day before the election, then what would I do?"

While Ritter said he knows there are provisions in the bill where a person without an ID can be given a sworn affidavit and a provisional ballot, they might not be enough to avert confusion at the polls.

"If my mother went in without me, and they said sign this affidavit, she wouldn’t know what that was, she wouldn’t know what she was signing and she would not sign it," Ritter said. "And as a result, she would lose her vote."

Although Ritter headed up numerous campaigns on bond issues for public education, this is his first run for elective office. And instead of asking people to support public schools or children’s education, he’s going door to door every day to ask citizens to support him.

Former Gov. Roger Wilson, a former educator, said Ritter has contributed much to city and it’s children. "Jim Ritter is a personal friend," Wilson said, "and I trust Jim Ritter. Besides that, that’s another district where we need to make a change."

But Ritter knows he’ll need to fight hard in order for that change to happen.

"It’s a busy life, there’s no question about that," he said. "At this point, I don’t feel the stress of that. Maybe after being superintendent for a few years, you don’t stress out quite as easily."

---

Reach Jason Rosenbaum at (573) 815-1719 or jrosenbaum@tribmail.com.

---