Governor Mitch Daniels discussed his hopes today to further push government reform in the upcoming legislative session, with Kernan-Shepard Report architects Joe Kernan and Randall Shepard in attendance. We’ve issued a press release in response, indicating our continued support:

When the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform released its 27 recommendations one year ago (on December 11, 2007), the Indiana Chamber said, "This report places the emphasis exactly where it needs to be — on increased local government efficiency and reduced spending."

Kevin Brinegar, Indiana Chamber president, says today: "Nothing has changed. In fact, in these challenging economic times it’s more important than ever for Hoosiers to demand that the General Assembly enact the recommendations of the Kernan-Shepard Commission so that we may all benefit from high-performing local governments, and for those local units to operate as cost-efficiently as possible.

"We’ve been encouraged by the discussion and the progress over the past year. Hoosiers made their preference for better local government clear at the polls in November when they voted to move the majority of the remaining tax assessing duties from the township to the county level.

"This is not strictly a business issue. It’s putting in place a structure that allows everyone easier access to libraries and other government services, as well as helping ensure the highest levels of public safety," Brinegar concludes. 

Here at the Chamber, we like to spend our days delving in theory (and by "we," I mean people who possess a greater cognitive capacity than I do). And this concept of human capital and student loans struck some of us as intriguing.

What if students repaid loans with a percentage of their future earnings? The National Center for Policy Analysis tackled the subject. Check out their analysis, which links to the original article in the Dallas Morning News by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow:

Originally the brainchild of Milton Friedman, human capital contracts are seen as a way to remove the risk of overwhelming debt for students and mitigate the social costs of trying to repay it.  By gearing repayment to income, the contracts reduce those burdens sharply – a student who earns less money is obligated to pay less back. 

The Pros:

The potentially lower payments explain why human capital contracts would draw students, but there’s an attraction for investors, as well, says Tuhus-Dubrow:

• An education fund offers investors a steady flow, protection against inflation and a more targeted hedge for large employers.
• Investors could be motivated by philanthropic goals: wealth alumni might see this as a way to help students attend their high-priced alma maters.
• Foundations and schools could require students to sign contracts stating that nothing is owed up to a certain point, but high-earning graduates would repay a percentage of their income, allowing the foundation to recycle that money into later classes.

 The Cons:

However, for all the benefits, the contracts pose multiple challenges in practice, adds Tuhus-Dubrow:

• They create an incentive for graduates to hide their income and make it easier for them to not work, since no fixed payment is required.
• Adverse selection and discrimination against low-income students could cause problems.
• Further, it’s not clear how the contracts would be enforced, how the IRS would treat them and what would happen in the case of bankruptcy.

Twitter is an online system for people to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of short, frequent answers to the question: “What are you doing?” At Indiana INTERNnet, we thought it would be a good way to communicate our latest internship postings and statewide internship activity. The New York Times says the system is one of the fastest growing phenomonas on the Internet and according to Newsweek, it seems that all of a sudden the world’s a-twitter. 

On our feed, we’ll post links to current internship postings from www.indianaintern.net, provide anecdotal internship testimonies, offer internship event information and do our best to elevate interest for Indiana internships. This will be an ideal resource for employers, students, and education faculty and staff.

Keep up on the latest Indiana internship news by “following” Indiana INTERNnet at https://twitter.com/IndianaINTERN. We’ll update frequently and look forward to Tweeting with you.

So you still think Nintendo rots your brain? Well, for further proof that these are indeed some crazy, crazy times, the portable Nintendo DS now features the ability to download your own library of literature to take with you on the go. The UK’s Times Online explains the capabilities in an article aptly titled, "Mario Makes Way for Shakespeare in Harper Collins Deal":

The 100 Classic Book Collection ranges from Shakespeare and Dickens to Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. It will cost about £20 and will be available initially only in Britain.

Readers will turn the pages by brushing a finger across the screen. If the collection is a success, Nintendo may expand the range of books available.

Other technology giants are trying to gain the upper hand in the rush towards reading books on screen. The Sony Reader, which can hold about 160 titles, was released in September. Users can choose from thousands of titles to down-load from Waterstones’ website.

No word yet about the potential global portability of my domination of anyone who dares to challenge me in Super Tecmo Bowl, but baby steps are fine at this point. 

Over the last two days, the Indiana Chamber visited eight of the 10 Head of the Class schools identified in the annual Indiana’s Best Buys report. (Mother Nature interfered with two trips scheduled for Wednesday).

Chamber education expert Derek Redelman gets the road warrior award for a Tuesday itinerary that took him to Signature School in Evansville, nearby Castle and across the southern part of the state to North Harrison. President Kevin Brinegar stayed closer to home with North Central (Indianapolis) and Hamilton Southeastern presentations.

I ended up with a Batesville-Monroe Central doubleheader — both schools I had visited under different circumstances. For Monroe Central in Parker City, it was covering high school basketball games as part of my sportswriting role prior to coming to the Chamber. I was able to share a few basketball tales and names from the past with the current staff.

Batesville, though, is where things were most interesting. While I was born a mere minute away from the town’s high school at the local hospital, the students gathered for the announcement focused on the fact that I went to school at rival East Central. They expressed their vocal displeasure, but I won them back by telling them their school earned a majority of the basketball victories in matchups between their Bulldogs and my Trojans during my prep days.

Another note: First-year Batesville Principal Tim Stephens deserves kudos as he was the leader at Hauser (a Best Buy honoree each of the last two years). While the report measures high school performance, Stephens pointed out that it is really an award for the entire district.

Rounding out the top 10 are Center Grove and Rushville. Congratulations to all.

View current and past Best Buys reports, along with this year’s press release.

Indiana’s Superintendent-elect Tony Bennett has tapped Indiana Chamber vice president of education and workforce development policy, Derek Redelman, as a member of his transition team. Redelman is advising Bennett on a variety of issues, but has been asked especially to help review the Department of Education center that includes Title I funding, school choices, adult education and ELL/Migrant learning programs.

Redelman worked previously as a policy analyst for the Department of Education and as an advisor to then-Superintendent H. Dean Evans. He sees great opportunity with the incoming superintendent: "It is exciting to work again with a superintendent who recognizes our state’s challenges and who brings fresh ideas for improving the education of all children."

Bennett is scheduled to take office on January 12, 2009. Three days prior, he will participate in a First Friday Conference Call (9:30-10:30 a.m. on January 9) with Indiana Chamber members, discussing his priorities for the department and the state’s education future.

Manchester College, in North Manchester, offered a "triple guarantee" Tuesday regarding what it can offer its students. During the announcement, President Jo Young Switzer offered the following educational trifecta for the private college’s incoming students:

1. Financial aid for all full-time students, and full tuition for academically strong low-income students who live in Indiana

2. Graduation within four years for all full-time students or receive free tuition for credits you need to graduate in five years

3. A job or post-graduate school within six months of graduation, or return for a full year tuition-free

“As families work hard to find money for college, those of us at Manchester continue our commitment to open the doors of a college education to students, to offer class schedules and advising and support so they can graduate in four years, and to prepare students for careers and jobs after college.”

Earlier this year, I featured the school’s Fast Forward program in BizVoice, which outlines how the college is offering an accelerated path to graduation for students who qualify. Pretty encouraging, as Manchester’s efforts show the importance of forward-thinking in a world that desperately needs answers to the tough questions proposed by the nation’s educational challenges.