Last night, Governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels (R), expressed the need for education reform in our state. He spoke of charter schools expansion, merit pay for teachers and the elimination of township government. His plan calls for rewarding teachers based on student performance and not based on how many years they have been teaching. He also said, one in three Hoosier children can pass the national math or reading exam and 99 percent of Indiana teachers are rated "effective." "If that were true 99 percent, not one-third, of our students would be passing those national tests." Daniels went on to say, families who can't find the right public or charter public school should be able to apply state dollars toward "the non-government school of their choice."
The speech wasn't entirely about education, though. He told the General Assembly to pass a balanced two-year budget without tax increases or "gimmicks." He called for an automatic taxpayer refund. Daniels also advocated for several local government reforms he has promoted in the past. They include the elimination of township governments and restrictions on "double-dipping" government workers who also sit on city and county councils. He also said Indiana's three-member county commissioner structure should be consolidated into a single executive.
Democrats criticized Daniels on his plan calling it "a distraction," but thankfully this year it will be hard for the democrats to stall as the Republicans hold the majority in both the house and senate.
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