State of the State
Despite issues concerning the budget, redistricting and local government reform, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels spent most of his 7th State of the State address to address the issue of education reform; which is expected to be the most contentious issue this legislative session.
The Governor called for expanding school choice by allowing a portion of school funding to follow public school students who attend accredited private schools. Allow more charter schools by creating a new statewide authorizer of charter schools. It would evaluate and compensate teachers based on student performance. It would also allow for teacher contracts to be based more on wages and benefits and less on non-educational items, like the temperature of the room or what days staff meetings can be held. In addition, contracts could be no longer than the state’s two-year budget cycle. And the high school students who graduate early would be allowed to take a portion ($3,500) of the costs of their fourth year of school and apply that to their first year of college.
With respect to the budget, the Governor called for no tax increases, keeping the state reserves on the positive side and staying away from raiding pension funds and delaying payments to local governments. He also called for taxpayer refunds when state reserves top 10 percent of annual needs. He asked for bi-partisan report with respect to redistricting, reforming the state’s criminal justice system and reforming local government; he got polite applause on that last one.
In all, the speech was pretty standard with the Governor, re-iterating themes he’s spelled out for the past few months. If you were looking for sign that Daniels was running for President, it wasn’t there. This was a speech that focused on Indiana and Indiana issues. But then again, it’s hard to run for President if you can’t even run your own state.
