Applauds Pence education agenda

Because of the vital role education plays in Indiana’s future, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce executive committee recently endorsed Gov. Pence’s education agenda for the 2015 legislative session. It’s an important step toward allowing the students in the K-12 education system to prosper through high-performing teachers and schools.

Several of the governor’s proposals clearly put Hoosier students first — including raising the base funding per pupil, developing a better approach to turning around failing schools, expanding performance-based funding and lifting the dollar cap for school choice.

As with any wide-ranging policy agenda, there are ideas that the chamber would like to see taken further. In recent progress reports on our Indiana Vision 2025 plan, we’ve noted that Indiana is making substantial progress but is not moving far enough or fast enough in some areas.

Giving the state board of education authority to elect its chairman would be a good step — if making the state superintendent an appointed position is not approved, a move that the chamber has advocated for decades.

The state chamber also believes that simply renewing the five-county preschool pilot program is not sufficient because there are far too many Hoosier children entering kindergarten unprepared to learn. Indiana needs to move forward this year to provide funding that will help all low-income families access educational preschool programs.

Tom Easterday Indiana Chamber of Commerce