Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels

EDITOR'S NOTE -- Greene County Daily World Assistant Editor Nick Schneider sat down with Gov. Mitch Daniels and other newspaper representatives from Daviess, Martin and Dubois counties Tuesday morning. This is the third in a series of stories, and today's deals with education.

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Mitch Daniels says the state needs to re-think the way it looks at education.

Daniels said there is a cultural issue with education in Indiana and other states around the country that needs addressed in a bold and innovative way.

Education has got to become a priority among families and a new cultural view of the way the state educates children has got to be kindled, the governor said in a heart-to-heart chat with several area news reporters Tuesday in Washington.

"If you had a magic wand to change that, most of the rest of this wouldn't matter very much," he said. "We have to try and build a culture of families who will revere and support education and understand that a kid doesn't have a chance if they don't get a good high school education and probably something beyond. In the meantime we have to do something for the children who aren't fortunate enough to come from a home like that. That is what full-day kindergarten was about for me. That's why I want to get that job finished (in the next legislative session). We got halfway there, but that job remains to be finished," the governor stressed.

"I'm not thinking of bigger schools. Just the opposite. I'm thinking of smaller schools, more teachers and small class sizes through less overhead. Forty cents of every Hoosier school dollar does not reach the classroom through a generous definition of a classroom. These are questions we should be asking ourselves because we could do a whole lot better by the teachers and the students if we could avoid and get away from some of the duplication and the redundancy in the administrative ends of a lot of our schools."

The governor commented that he felt "a lot of overhead" was needlessly being spent in some places around the state like Greene County for the administration of five separate school districts in a county with a population of just over 32,000.

Daniels pointed to single, centralized school administration in much larger neighboring counties of Vigo and Bloomington Metropolitan School District in Monroe County as examples of where a more centralized approach is working and saving money.

Daniels explained. "There is just a lot of administration costs in a place where you have five school systems operating where you could have one."

The governor went on to say that the entire education "system" in this state fuels more administrative cost.

"I've got nothing against these folks (the administrators), but we've got a system that pushed it. I talk to a lot of teachers and one thing that really bothers me is we've got this system where people who love to teach at some point top out (on the salary scale) and if they want to make a little extra money for their family, what are they going to do? They've got to quit teaching and go be an administrator," Daniels said. "You are going to hear a lot more from me next year -- if there are more years -- about teacher quality. We've got to make some major changes in the way we prepare teachers in this state.

"There must be support for education at home in the community. The next variable that really matters is teacher quality. If you've got a great teacher and you may not have a beautiful building and the floor may not be carpeted, but the kids will learn. We've got work to do there too."

Daniels said he favors fostering and encouraging a school program that taps into the experience and abilities of elder mentors who are regarded as "non-traditional" teachers.

The governor said this might be a retiree from the military, vocational, an engineering field or business.

"Historically, it has been almost impossible for them to be involved in our schools. I think we need to lower the barriers down and take advantage of some of that intelligence and passion. Get them in there where they can help our young people. I have seen some great programs like that as I've traveled around the state, but we can do much better," he stressed.

Daniels struck a very serious and reflective tone when he talked about getting back to a cultural and social setting where family values are key and importance of education is stressed from a young age.

He explained that he was in a recent conversation with a church pastor who had visited young juvenile inmates at the Indiana Girls School in Indianapolis.

"One of the adults asked the girls 'who knows you are here, and what adult cares that you are in here? Does anyone have a Mom or Dad and aunt or an uncle?' These kids couldn't identify one adult who cared they were where they were. How can that be? It gets back to culture. If we can just make sure there is one caring adult in the life of young people who through no fault of their own don't have that," the governor said.

"Education of our children is so important. We have got to get better. If only we can foster more combined and centralized purchasing as well as cooperation we should at least do that. I hope the parents, the teachers and those concerned about getting the quality of education up will join and help us do it. We have got to run the schools for the benefit of the children and the future.

"If money alone would fix this problem, it would already be fixed. That's still not an excuse for 40 cents of every taxpayer's dollar winding up somewhere other than in the classroom."