Tony Bennett is disappointed in Arne Duncan’s rejection of the Indiana Race to the Top application. Others are surprised that New York and Kentucky made the first cut. What does New York and Kentucky have that Indiana doesn’t have? An aversion to charter schools.

Hold up! I thought lifting caps on charter schools was a deal breaker for RttT?!  Maybe not. Kentucky has zero charter schools. New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and North Carolina (all finalists) have restrictive caps on charter schools.

Was Mr. Duncan ever really serious about charter schools? What is Arne serious about? Is it a federal infusion or will it be federal intrusion? Here are the four required significant areas of reform:

1. States expected to adopt common, internationally-benchmarked K-12 standards and assessments that truly prepare students for college and careers.
2. Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals;
3. Building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices;
4. Turning around our lowest-performing schools

Note #1, common, internationally benchmarked K-12 standards and assessments. Is that what it sounds like? Yes. And that, Mr. Bennett is why you are NOT a winner in Duncan’s grade book. One can only speculate where the charter school rhetoric was coming from. Perhaps, it was a way to get conservatives onboard.

(Read more after the leap)

If you’ve read this site for any length of time during the short, but ever so eventful, first 50+ days of the Obama Administration, you can guess that I don’t agree with the President all to often.  But today, I do.  And oddly, the education obstacles…I mean agenda that Pat “The Hair” Bauer and the Indiana House Democrats have put forth does not.

What we’re talking about here are Charter Schools and stronger accountability and high standards for the rest of Indiana’s schools.  Consider the following, first from President Obama, via CNN.com:

“We have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short and other nations outpace us,” Obama said in an address to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “The time for finger-pointing is over. The time for holding ourselves accountable is here.”

“The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy and unacceptable for our children, and we cannot afford to let it continue,” he said.

The President even went on to harshly criticize Teachers Unions that oppose merit-based pay.

“If a teacher is given a chance but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching,” he said. “I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences.”

But here’s the kicker. Oddly, all of this seems to right out of Governor Daniels and Dr. Bennett’s play book when it comes to education.

Obama called for the promotion of educational “innovation and excellence” by renewing his campaign pledge to support charter schools. He called on states to lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools.

The emphasis added was mine. Why? Because Democrats at the State House directly oppose the president’s education agenda. Why? Because they are backed by the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA), a union. Consider the following:

(Read more after the leap)

While many communities spent 2008 cutting budgets to meet the requirements of HEA 1001. And then during the legislative session this year many officials have taken the trek to Indianapolis to testify to hold up reforms proposed by Governor Daniels.

• Trustees don’t want to eliminate townships, they are concerned that no one else can provide poor relief and fire service.
• Treasurers, Auditors, and Assessors don’t want to be merged into one Chief Financial Officer because … that would shut down at least two associations and make it a lot easier to figure out who isn’t doing their job.
• County Commissioners don’t want to be forced to choose between a County Executive or an expanded Board of Supervisors and a County Administrator. Having three people administrate and not having any legislative authority in the county council has made it very hard to figure out who’s doing what … a safe place for politicians.
• None of these groups wanted to support the anti-nepotism law, a place where all elected officials just plain look foolish when they hire their own family members. Oh yeah and then there is the law that forbids municipal employees from becoming their own bosses on the elected boards and commissions. In Valparaiso I believe 3 of the council members are city employees.

Now I read an article this morning that State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Bennett, has suggested that the state has the authority to step in and take over school systems that are performing poorly. Uh Oh.

Check the quote from the Indianapolis Schools:

(Read more after the leap)

*Note from Josh* – You’ll probably notice the interesting surroundings.  Yes, it’s a basement.  I like to call it my “Bunker of Hope”.

*Note from Josh* – You’ll probably notice the interesting surroundings.  Yes, it’s a basement.  I like to call it my “Bunker of Hope”.

Part II will be posted Sunday Afternoon

During a recent bout of insomnia, I decided to have some fun with the WHOIS database, a nifty listing of who owns a given domain name and when they bought it (among other things). Because of the importance of the internet in modern politics, and the cheap cost of registering a domain name, politicians and campaigns frequently register their domain names far in advance of any official campaign declaration.

So, being bored and unable to sleep, I started punching in combinations based around potential gubernatorial candidates for the 2012 race. A study, if you will, in the advance web positioning of potential gubernatorial candidates.

For each candidate, I tried a variety of similar combinations:

joesmith.com
smithforgovernor.com
joesmithforgovernor.com
joesmithforindiana.com
smith2012.com
joesmith2012.com
hoosiersforjoe.com
hoosiersforsmith.com

It’s an interesting exercise, to be sure. It might not catch everyone (Mitch Daniels’ campaign website was mymanmitch.com, for example, which you wouldn’t find with any of the above searches), but I figured that the results should be interesting, so I set out searching.

Because this study was an exercise in boredom rather than some exhaustive academic research, I tried to limit myself to the first eight or nine people for each party that came to mind when running the search.

(Read more after the leap)

Encouraging news….

From the AP:

A new statewide poll shows GOP candidate Greg Zoeller for attorney general and Tony Bennett for superintendent of public instruction lead their Democratic rivals.

The WISH-TV Indiana Poll finds Zoeller leading Democratic attorney general candidate Linda Pence 51 percent to 39 percent. The same poll finds Bennett leading Democrat Richard Wood 45 percent to 39 percent in the race for superintendent of public instruction.

The poll was taken Oct. 24 through Tuesday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Wood has gained some ground on Bennett since a similar poll taken Sept. 29 through Oct. 3 showed Bennett with a 36 percent to 29 percent lead.

The Chicago Tribune observes that Mitch Daniels won’t be at the Sarah Palin rally in Jeffersonville today, but that he might try to stop by outside to say hello and talk to some folks as they stand in line.

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. – Gov. Mitch Daniels will skip a Sarah Palin campaign rally in Indiana for the third time in 12 days when she visits Jeffersonville on Wednesday, but he’ll make an appearance in the parking lot before the event.

Daniels, who supports the John McCain-Palin ticket, said he has a scheduling conflict while he campaigns for a second term. The Republican governor will be in vicinity of Palin’s rally at a Jeffersonville warehouse, but at another site.

“When they only give us 48 hours’ notice … we plan a little further out than that. I’ve not been willing to cancel on people who have made plans in preparation for our coming,” Daniels said at a news conference in Indianapolis on Tuesday to kick off a southern Indiana campaign swing.

(Read more after the leap)

If the latest Howey/Gauge Market Research poll says anything about the Governor’s race, it’s that it’s essentially over and Jill Long Thompson’s campaign is D.O.A. for election day.

According to HPI:

Daniels is poised for a resounding victory. The governor leads in the Fort Wayne media market 63-31 percent; in South Bend 66-31 percent; Indianapolis 65-29 percent; Louisville 64-25 percent; while the Chicago market is tied at 44 percent. Thompson leads among African-Americans by only a 56-41 percent margin. Daniels’ standing with African-Americans has increased 14 percent since our August poll. Daniels is winning 37 percent of the Democratic vote – more than one in three – and among independents 64-21 percent.

Daniels is also getting 40 percent of the Obama vote. Gov. Daniels’ re-elect stood at 59/33 percent. Mitch Daniels re-elect support is among the strongest in the nation for a Republican holding a major office, Davis said.

Howey went on to say:

The numbers bear out our analysis: that the Thompson campaign is one of the worst gubernatorial campaigns we’ve ever witnessed.

If being 12% down in the South Bend Tribune/WSBT poll is “confidence” what is being down 31 percent?  That must be the “We’ve got them right where we want them” kind of feeling.

The poll didn’t just cover the governor’s race.  It also looked at the presidential race, the 3rd Congressional district race as well as a brief look at the two other statewide races.  The good and, what could be, very bad news after the leap.

The full podcast is on iTunes.

Here’s a couple selected segments – Our own Josh Gillespie snagged an interview with South Carolina US Senator Lindsey Graham. Also, we have an excerpt from an update from Dr. Tony Bennett on his campaign to succeed Sue Ellen Reed as Superintendent of Public Instruction.

On iTunes we have the full podcast featuring former WXNT substitute host and Abdul in the Morning producer Chris Spangle who has accepted the formidible challenge of being the Executive Director of the Indiana Libertarian Party. Also, Josh, Squid, and myself discuss ACORN and the problem of having 105% of the population registered to vote.

Podcast: Play in new window

*Bumped to the top as a reminder.  Sorry to say, but we will not be able to cover the debate live. – Josh*

Tony Bennett, the Republican seeking to replace Suellen Reed as State Superintendent of Public Instruction will be debating his Democrat opponent, Dick Wood, this week:

What: Town Hall Debate between Republican Dr. Tony Bennett and Democrat Dr. Dick Wood

Where: Northview Middle School Auditorium, 8401 Westfield Blvd. in Indianapolis

When: Wednesday, September 10 from 7 to 8 PM

Yesterday Hoosier Access posted Governor Mitch Daniels’ latest campaign TV ad with Republican Candidates for Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Bennett and Attorney General Greg Zoeller showing unity and leadership in discussing important issues like restoring discipline in the classroom.  Bennett and Zoeller have both actually weighed in on the Governor’s proposals on education issues and just a couple of weeks ago Bennett and Zoeller joined together to stump across the state to affirm the Governor’s proposals and education platform.

Juxtapose that with this classic quote from Democrat Candidate for Supt. of Public Instruction Dick Wood in today’s Louisville Courier-Journal responding to Jill Long’s education proposals she released yesterday of which she ignored Wood’s input.

Thompson outlined her proposals at a news conference at the local office of the Indiana State Teachers Association. She was joined by several elected Democratic officials, including state Rep. Bill Cochran, state Sen. Connie Sipes, New Albany Mayor Doug England, Floyd County Clerk Linda Moeller and New Albany City Clerk Marcey Wisman.

Richard Wood, the Democratic candidate for superintendent of public instruction, said later that he had provided information for Thompson but was not involved in drafting her education proposals. He added, however, that “I think it’s a very well thought-out position, very positive,” and that he supports it.

My guess is that Hoosiers will want a ticket who will work together to get things done, especially when it comes to reforming Indiana’s failed public education system.  Even Jill Long agrees that something must be done.  Governor Daniels knows how to pull his team together while Jill Long apparently has problems communicating and working with her own team.  No doubt here which ticket will succeed in building progress in reforming public education in favor of Indiana’s students.