Indiana

Schools & Other Stuff

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

I have a few items of interest to report to you this morning.

The Indiana Department of Education is investigating “irregularities” in recent ISTEP tests.  According to the DOE, a number of elementary tests came back with a high number of erasures which raised some red flags in the Office.   DOE Chief of Staff Heather Neal won’t say the erasures are the product of cheating, but they have put school districts on notice about the problem.   In addition, Indianapolis Public School Officials reportedly called in dozens of elementary school teachers for questioning regarding the matter.

Although Indiana lawmakers expect to have their hands full when dealing with the budget this upcoming session, the problem may not be as bad as originally thought.  I’ve been speaking to a number of lawmakers and budget experts over the past few days and lot of them say the State should be able to make it without too much pain.  The consensus is that between slightly improving finances and the fact Governor Mitch Daniels has already made a lot of cuts in prior years is helping the state weather this latest financial storm.

With a year still left in his term, Beech Grove Mayor Joe Wright announced Monday night he was stepping down immediately.   It is strongly believed that Beech Grove’s finances were the main reason behind Wright’s resignation.  A replacement could come in two weeks when Beech Grove precinct committeemen come together.

The Bilerico Project recently reported that Indianapolis may be sitting on its on “Eddie Long” type scandal.   The blog was short on details but I’ve been doing some checking around and there seems to be a lot more legs to this story than you might think.  Stick around for this one.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on January 04, 2011 (boomark / email).