Education was one of the primary topics of discussion at the Muncie Community Conversation event with Sen. Eddie Melton (D-Gary) and Jennifer McCormick, superintendent of public instruction.
Melton, who has formed a gubernatorial exploratory committee, and McCormick, a Ball State alumna, held the event Wednesday at the Courtyard by Marriott as part of a statewide listening tour called Hoosier Community Conversations. The event was originally scheduled to be held at the Art and Journalism Building at Ball State.
Democratic Indiana legislators from the Muncie-area also took part in the discussion including Sen. Tim Lanane, Rep. Sue Errington and Rep. Melanie Wright.
One of the education-related topics that was discussed was college affordability and student debt.
“We have to address that nationally as well, but we can’t wait, as states, to just wait on the federal government to give us a model,” Melton said.
He spoke about looking into subjects like free college tuition, freezing college tuition and other models followed elsewhere with a focus on finding feasible and effective ways to aid those who are just starting out.
Melton said an issue he sees at the statehouse is legislators “lightly touching subjects and not diving deep into the issues, how to solve these problems,” adding people will continue to leave Indiana.
It’s important to figure out how to attract and retain talent to avoid societies in Indiana from becoming “older, fewer and poorer,” he said.
McCormick said the problem was “systemic.”
“Many of our high schools are doing a great job of making sure kids are leaving with several college credits to help eliminate years that you are sitting and accumulating all that debt,” she said. “Can we do more? Yes.”
She said there were several proven models around the nation that were possible to apply to Indiana and leadership needs to be willing to look at the available data and talk with a lot of different people across the board.
She said while there are a lot of different pieces going on, mentioning Ball State’s Brain Gain efforts, it’s going to take leadership to have hard conversations and ask the right questions.
“There are solutions to it,” McCormick said. “You have to have leadership willing to listen.”
Other topics discussed include teacher pay, charter schools, gerrymandering and the Republican supermajority in the Indiana General Assembly.
“I’m a student in class when I’m with Dr. McCormick,” Melton said. “I’ve learnt a lot about what’s happening behind the scenes in our education system.”
McCormick said while that’s how Melton operates, people shouldn't assume that elected officials do the same because that isn’t the norm in the statehouse.
“That piece — having the admission to say, ‘I don’t have all the answers’ — that’s huge,” McCormick said.
In his conclusion, Melton said, “this is not about one individual. This is not about me pursuing office. This is about how can we as a collective change the narrative of the state and seek government that’s about every single Hoosier.”
He said if people focused on the issues that matter “I think we can have some true conversations and work towards policy that’s going to improve the quality of life for folks.”
Contact Rohith Rao with comments at rprao@bsu.edu or on Twitter @RaoReports.
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