ANDREA NEAL: Daniels is education reform governor

Mitch Daniels used his first term to get Indiana’s fiscal house in order. His second term sealed his reputation as the education reform governor.

ANDREA NEAL: Daniels helped state weather recession

In his first State of the State address in 2005, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced, “Our state’s public finances are in ruins.” Unaware of the coming recession, he made four promises to citizens: To work to strengthen the economy, make government leaner and more efficient, modernize infrastructur…

ANDREA NEAL: Reading 20 minutes a day is reform that works

Before lawmakers throw money at the thorny issue of early-childhood education they should consider an experiment in Richmond aimed at getting parents to read to their children daily.

GUEST COMMENTARY: The ethical case for right-to-work

Suppose a bare majority of the eateries in your town forces all the others into a dues-imposing “restaurant association” that fixes prices, hours and terms of service for all of them.

GUEST COMMENTARY: What Chicago's strike taught Indiana's teachers

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel settled a labor contract with the Chicago teachers’ union after an eight-day strike. Teachers were happy to secure concessions limiting a school reform program they said would harm students and cost teachers jobs. Emanuel walked away with a teacher evaluation syste…

Jeff Abbott

Jeff Abbott is an adjunct scholar of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation.

ANDREA NEAL: Cut Indiana's sales tax to 6.5%

At 3.4 percent, Indiana’s personal income tax is one of the nation’s lowest. A half dozen states, including Texas and Florida, don’t charge income tax at all; 41 states impose a rate higher than Indiana’s.

ANDREA NEAL: Why women don't run for political office

One day after Ann Romney’s Republican National Convention speech, the Associated Press devoted an entire article to her “tasteful, conservative and appropriate wardrobe.” Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered an issue-packed endorsement of Mitt Romney, and Wall Street Journal …

ANDREA NEAL: A two-century tradition of negative attacks

Don’t blame Mitt Romney and Barack Obama for the ugly tone of the 2012 presidential race. Blame John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. They started it.

ANDREA NEAL: DCS is turning around, slowly but surely

Running the Indiana Department of Child Services is harder than being Marion County juvenile judge “by a factor of 18,” Jim Payne concedes.

BRIAN HOWEY: Pence’s ‘good cop/bad cop’ strategy

It had been nine years since Mike Pence had run and brawled for a congressional seat, twice unsuccessfully challenging U.S. Rep. Phil Sharp.

GUEST COMMENTARY: Teach unions don't act in students' interest

Despite a stated interest in professionalism and student achievement, American teachers unions have been unable or unwilling to wean themselves from dependence on government privilege, much of it exclusive. And as a result, their existence and welfare as an organization take precedence over …

Hang La

Hang La of Hanoi, Vietnam, is an intern at the Indiana Policy Review Foundation. She is a sophomore at DePauw University, majoring in political science

ANDREA NEAL: Daniels giving next governor a fiscal head start

Call it Mitch Daniels’ gift to the next governor. While 31 states are still struggling to close budget shortfalls blamed on the recession, Indiana is touting the largest surplus in its history: $2.15 billion.

ANDREA NEAL: Tall trees and American exceptionalism

Visalia, Calif. — In Sequoia National Park in California, tall trees beckon one million visitors a year. The tourists come from all over the world to see something exceptional: the largest living things on Earth.

ANDREA NEAL: ISTA is still crying wolf over education reforms

In Chicago, teachers are poised to go on strike over a pay metric they think is unfair, longer school days they’d rather not work, and class sizes they consider unreasonable.

ANDREA NEAL: Colleges fail students in the liberal arts

Congratulations and best of luck to the Class of 2012. Even with a degree in hand, they’ll need it.

ANDREA NEAL: Divisive primary could affect November outcome

If family feuds make you squirm, you'll be glad when this primary's over. While Democrats across Indiana have lain low, infighting among Republicans has rivaled that of Cain and Abel.

ANDREA NEAL: Like his voting record or not, Lugar is definition of Hoosier

To borrow a phrase from the late Potter Stewart, I may not be able to define the word Hoosier, but I know one when I see him. And Sen. Dick Lugar is the quintessential Hoosier.

ANDREA NEAL: Time for a reality check on mass transit

Merriam-Webster defines wishful thinking as "the attribution of reality to what one wishes to be true or the tenuous justification of what one wants to believe." It's an apt description for folks clamoring to spend hundreds of millions on a central Indiana mass-transit plan. We can pump in m…