Editorial Roundup: Indiana

The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette. Feb. 6, 2022.

Editorial: Preschool prep provides positive push

College preparedness is a national problem. More than 1.7 million college freshmen across the U.S. take remedial courses each year. The annual cost of remediation to students is $1.3 billion, according to a 2016 report by the nonpartisan policy institute Center for American Progress, the latest available estimate.

Much of that money is wasted: Fewer than 50% of students enrolled in remedial courses complete them. Two-thirds of students needing remediation and attending four-year colleges fail to earn their degrees within six years. Fewer than 8% of students needing remediation in two-year colleges earn their degrees within four years.

Information shared annually by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education since 2013 proves the state's emphasis on college readiness is paying life-altering dividends for many students and their families. Since 2011, 22% fewer Hoosiers have required college remediation '“ the lowest in 15 years.

Setting the pace in college attendance today are the low-income students enrolled in Indiana's Evan Bayh 21st Century Scholars program. More Scholars than ever before '“ 88% who completed the program and earned full tuition to a public university '“ attended college in 2019.

'œTwenty-first Century Scholars are closing the achievement gap and closing it for every low-income student by race and ethnicity,'ť said Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers. 'œOther positives include continuing low remediation rates, and more students are seeking shorter-term credentials than ever before.'ť

The key to economic stability in today's economy is a post-secondary education: a four-year bachelor degree, two-year associate degree or training in a trade. And Indiana's long-term focus on college preparedness proves government emphasis can lead to desired outcomes.

The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration Monday released the results of first-of-their-kind studies of Indiana's On My Way Pre-K, a state program providing access to high-quality preschools to low-income children. They lay out the successes of early childhood education '“ and, like college-readiness, a needed statewide emphasis on kindergarten-readiness.

The first, a study by the Center for Early Learning at Purdue University, followed 376 children enrolled in On My Way Pre-K programs over several years.

It found they outperformed comparative children on the statewide ILEARN English/language arts tests in grades 3 and 4.

The second study, a Kindergarten Readiness Indicators assessment by the University of Chicago, measured oral language, literacy and math skills of 1,608 of the 2,476 Hoosiers enrolled in On My Way Pre-K classrooms in the spring of 2021. It compared their kindergarten readiness with the national norms of higher-income children.

On average, On My Way Pre-K students scored at or above those national targets on 29% of the language and literacy skills and 40% of the math skills '“ still below the national average in most cases, but better than students with no access to quality pre-K.

'œThe studies show that Indiana's investment in high-quality early education for the children of lower-income families is helping our youngest learners achieve at their greatest potential for years to come,'ť said Gov. Eric Holcomb. 'œGiving children a good start on their education pathway delivers a more well-prepared student and ultimately a ready-to-go workforce, both key elements to our state's future growth and opportunity.'ť

Readying young children for kindergarten is much more than ensuring they know their 123s and ABCs. Preschool prepares little ones to become learners, and 204 Allen County children are enrolled in On My Way Pre-K. The need for access to state-supported early learning outpaces opportunity here and in smaller, more rural areas. Six Hoosier counties, including DeKalb, have zero program participants.

The next step in the evolution of On My Way Pre-K must be state incentives for public and private investments to develop quality pre-K centers in less populated counties, as well as financial aid for early childhood educators through scholarships and small-business grants.

All children deserve to start school with a pencil box full of knowledge and confidence.

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Anderson Herald Bulletin. Feb. 4, 2022.

Editorial: Nursing home reform is too long past due

The timing wasn't right.

That was the explanation offered by state Sen. Ed Charbonneau after effectively killing a bill that would have brought much-needed oversight to the Indiana nursing home industry.

Charbonneau, a Republican from Valparaiso, is chairman of the Senate Health & Provider Services Committee. That committee had scheduled a hearing on Senate Bill 405, a measure that would have revealed for the first time exactly how much federal money county hospitals are diverting from their nursing homes and how much hospital executives have benefited personally.

The bill also would have required the Indiana Department of Health to establish new quality metrics for nursing homes, and it would have prohibited retaliation against whistleblowers for exposing wrongdoing at health facilities.

It was, in other words, exactly the sort of legislation reform advocates have been calling for the legislature to enact.

But just ahead of the scheduled hearing, Charbonneau pulled the bill from the calendar.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Fady Qaddoura, a Democrat from Indianapolis, said he learned of the chairman's decision only moments before the hearing.

'œI'm disappointed that it was pulled from the calendar because this is a critical issue,'ť he told The Indianapolis Star. 'œIn my view, if it's public dollars, then we should mandate public disclosure.'ť

An Indianapolis Star investigation found at least $1 billion in federal money had been diverted from Indiana nursing homes for other purposes, such as hospital construction projects. The newspaper found millions more had been lost to fraud.

The money came through a Medicaid program intended to improve care for nursing home residents, but The Star found that county hospitals had been exploiting loose state and federal rules that allowed them to use much of the money to pad the bottom lines of their hospitals.

In the meantime, Indiana's nursing homes are among the most poorly staffed in the country, and Qaddoura pointed out they're also among the best funded. It only makes sense for a fiscally conservative state like Indiana to insist on knowing where all that money is going.

Could the legislature's failure to act have anything to do with the fact that the industry's trade group, the Indiana Health Care Association, is among the top five spenders on lobbying at the General Assembly? Surely that's only a coincidence. Just like the millions of dollars nursing home interests have spent on political campaigns.

Charbonneau did offer one telling comment after killing the bill.

'œWhat they're doing is perfectly legal,'ť he told The Indianapolis Star.

That, of course, is exactly the reason reform advocates have been calling for a change in Indiana law.

When will the timing finally be right? Hoosiers are tired of waiting.

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Terre Haute Tribune-Star. Feb. 4, 2022.

Editorial: Campus vote center encourages our youth

Young people should sense their community wants them to vote.

And when those young people turn out in solid numbers for an election, the factors leading to their participation should be maintained, enhanced and improved.

One prime way to encourage more young people to vote - the most fundamental expression of democracy - is to place a polling site on familiar turf. That is the case for older adults. Vigo County voting sites routinely include union halls, American Legion and VFW posts, firehouses, churches, armories and community centers - locations that are certainly open to a variety of ages, but are traditionally led and frequented by the over-30 population.

Nearly 15,000 students attend the four colleges in Vigo County. They come from this community, as well as other towns in Indiana, Illinois, the Midwest, nation and world to study for two, four or six years. Terre Haute and the county need more of them to decide to stay here after graduation to live, work, raise families, fuel the economy and tax base and volunteer.

They will be more inclined to call this 'œhome'ť if they feel as if the community wants their help in solving problems and improving the quality of life here. The act of voting in local elections provides such a connection.

College students are indeed members of this community for however long they live here, anyway. Terre Haute and Vigo County rely on students at Indiana State University, Rose-Hulman, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and Ivy Tech Community College in census counts to secure federal funding for a gamut of services and needs. So, they should not feel like interlopers when it comes to local elections.

Thus, the Vigo County Election Board did the right thing last week by retaining ISU as one of 17 vote-center sites for the 2022 elections. The university's Hulman Memorial Student Union building has served as a vote center for elections since 2018, and turnouts have paralleled other vote centers elsewhere in the county. The possibility for strong turnouts there stems from the fact that the student union is a hub of campus activity.

ISU students, faculty and staff, and people from the area showed up at the student union in good numbers for the 2020 general election. A total of 369 ballots were cast at the ISU site, exceeding turnouts at Pimento Firehouse (295), Boot City (247) and Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 157 (219).

At a meeting last summer, the Election Board said it was considering dropping ISU from its 2022 vote center roster, nonetheless, citing poor treatment of some poll workers by the public in past elections. Respecting poll workers is certainly important in maintaining decorum at a polling site. It is also correctable, especially with first-time voters, through awareness efforts and reminders. Other concerns, such as parking and accessibility, can also be overcome through communication.

For its part, the university says it provides parking permits to all poll workers and leaves a pay-lot open for free parking on Election Day. Mark Alesia, director of university communications, noted that ISU differs from other vote centers 'œin that it's primarily used by people who walk there. ISU values the opportunity to serve as a vote center, and we've been recognized by Washington Monthly for being among America's Best Colleges for Student Voting.'ť

The Election Board had twice turned down ISU's offer to host a vote center before approving it four years ago. When the Republican-majority Election Board suggested dropping the ISU site, after it was the only vote center in the county in November 2020 to overwhelmingly favor Democratic candidate Joe Biden over GOP incumbent Donald Trump, the perception existed that politics could be driving the board's decision. Last week's decision by the board helps mitigate that perception.

ISU students and the university consider the campus vote center, and their turnout as voters, as a virtue. The community can feel proud of helping that cause.