Ap Newsbreak: Ritz's Office Backed App Deal Without Bidding

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz's office approved a lucrative technology contract that state government officials said should have been subject to competitive bid, awarding it to a company that later gave one of her key aides a senior job. Documents and emails provided to The Associated Press show state officials who review contracts were alarmed it was not put out to public bid, and tried to stop it. The documents also show that the proposal to develop a mobile app for Indiana schools to communicate data such as standardized test scores to the state could grow into a multimillion-dollar boon for AT&T and its Georgia-based software developer N2N Services. "There were (school) superintendents that complained about disorganization, about receiving mixed messages from the department," former Democratic state board of education member Tony Walker said of Ritz' management. Former schools superintendent Bennett was involved in a school accountability scandal, former Indiana Department of Transportation chief of staff Troy Woodruff sold land to the agency, and state Rep.