End cruel, defeatist practice of passing kids who can't read
The days when education debates started and stopped at dollar signs are over, and high time. From President Obama down, everyone now recognizes that leaders in education are defined not by what they put in but by what they get out.
But just for the record, and despite frequent misrepresentations to the contrary, Indiana is a leader in what we put in.
But that's not why others are following Indiana. It's our new commitment to rewarding the best teachers, liberating principals
and superintendents, and providing low- and middle-income parents the same choices as their wealthier neighbors; that's what has caught the world's attention. And this year, when we end the cruel, defeatist practice of passing children who cannot read
into fourth grade, and when our most diligent students begin to graduate from high school in 11 years, and get a head start on college costs with the dollars they earned through their hard work, others will take notice of Indiana yet again.
A miserably underperforming public school system is not taking its inevitable toll on our society and producing a workforce woefully unprepared to compete with those of other countries and woefully ignorant of the duties and requirements of citizenship
in a free society.
It's easy to blame the failures of our public education on bad teachers, overcrowded classrooms, and inadequate resources, but the root of the problem lies within the system's own bureaucracies, in particular, the government
unions such as the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. The adults who hijacked education for their own advantage did not intend for our young people to suffer as a consequence,
but it was inevitable that they would suffer once the unions sought to protect incompetent teachers, principals and superintendants against any accountability for producing well-prepared students.
NEA not entirely motivated by what's best for children
The NEA has inserted itself into a wide variety of left-wing causes over the past decades, but hasn't come to the defense of teaching the virtues of America's free institutions. Indeed, the NEA, which recently spent more than
$2 million on a ballot initiative aimed at raising corporate taxes in California, has donated money to the Sierra Club and to ACORN, and has been a stalwart opponent of education reforms aimed at raising the quality of education
through testing, vouchers and charter schools. It has even opposed education reform, such as merit pay, that are supported by President Obama. In a free society, such organization are well within their rights to wage political campaigns,
but we shouldn't pretend that such campaigns are entirely motivated by what's best for the children and that they don't impact the individual rights the rest of us enjoy.
Pro school choice; pro charter schools; pro voucher
We expanded public school choice by enacting a new law that allows students to transfer to any public school district without paying tuition. The response was amazing. School districts started advertising their graduation rates, test scores and other
academic achievements in order to attract new students. Competition works in education as elsewhere in life.
We also expanded charter schools, which gave parents new choices within the public system and, as underappreciated as it usually is, gave
many parents a new avenue for getting involved in the education of their children.
To make real strides in education, you have to think outside the public system. In 2011, we pushed legislation that would give families who have tried public schools
and found them unsatisfactory the power to take the tax dollars used to educate their children and spend it on sending their children to any school of their choosing, public or private. Effectively, Indiana is the first state with universal school choice
Working within the public system, we designed an innovative program that gives enterprising students who graduate high school a year early the money the state would have spent on their education had they stuck around for a final year.
Students can use this money only to further their education, so the program rewards hardworking teens by giving them a leg up on paying for college.
These reforms alone will not produce the excellence we need, and our program has included a host of other changes, such as new standards for teacher licensure, annual
A-F grades for every school and district, and replacing teacher tenure and pay by seniority with rewards and job protection based on classroom performance.
Pay teachers, and award tenure, based on effectiveness
We know what works. It starts with teacher quality. Teacher quality has been found to be 20 times more important than any other factor, including poverty, in determining which kids succeed. Class size, by comparison, is virtually meaningless.
Put a great teacher in front of a large class, and you can expect good results. Put a poor teacher in front of a small class, do not expect the kids to learn.
Teachers should have tenure, but they should earn it by proving their ability to help kids
learn. Our best teachers should be paid more, much more, and ineffective teachers should be helped to improve or asked to move.
We are beginning to hold our school leaders accountable for the only thing that really matters: Did the children grow?
Did the children learn? Starting this year, schools will get their own grades, in a form we can all understand: 'A' to 'F.' There will be no more hiding behind jargon and gibberish.
First, this Assembly heeded the call of President Obama and others and lifted Indiana's backward-looking limits on charter schools and on considering student achievement in evaluating teachers. Then our Professional Standards
Board, led by our superb new Superintendent Tony Bennett, acted to strengthen standards for new teachers, and to open both classroom and leadership positions to those whose hearts call them to teaching from other walks of life.
Source: Indiana 2010 State of the State Address
, Jan 19, 2010
Support vouchers for public schools
Indicate which principles you support regarding education.
Support high school exit exams.
Daniels adds, "Indiana's new assessment system requires students to pass certain key high school courses to graduate, rather than an exit exam."
Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school.
Daniels adds, "In my first term I did not support vouchers for private or religious education"
Source: Indiana Gubernatorial Election 2008 Political Courage Test
, Nov 1, 2008
Use lottery revenue for free college tuition for two years
Indicate which principles you support regarding education.
Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
Daniels adds, "I have proposed a new program to use revenue from
the state lottery to guarantee all IN high school graduates two years of free tuition at our community college or the equivalent amount in cash to use at another IN college or university."
Source: Indiana Gubernatorial Election 2008 Political Courage Test
, Nov 1, 2008
Voluntary prayer in public schools
Q: Do you support a moment of silence in public schools?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support voluntary prayer in public schools?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support sexual education programs that include information on
abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs?
A: Yes.
Source: Indiana Gubernatorial Election 2008 Political Courage Test
, Nov 1, 2008
Proud of long-standing commitment to our public schools
Hoosiers are rightfully proud of Indiana’s long-standing commitment to our public schools. Hoosiers earn less income than the average American, but spend more of their income than the national average on their K-12 public schools.
The Governor’s proposals would strengthen the roles of the regional Education Service Centers (ESCs) to purchase a variety of products and services on behalf of participating school districts.
The Governor’s “More Dollars to the Classroom” initiative would shift more funds [from products & services to classroom] to improve student achievement.
School districts would also be given more freedom to enter into shared services agreements,
so that administrators responsible for such functions as transportation, facilities management, human resources, and information technology could perform them for multiple districts.
Source: Gubernatorial website, www.in.gov/gov, “Issues”
, Nov 11, 2006
