State leader visited SA

The state’s top school official visited the area 25 years ago this week.

H. Dean Evans, Indiana Superintendent of Public Education, visited South Adams Schools on Feb. 25, 1992. While in Berne, Evans, who was also the Republican candidate for governor, toured South Adams Elementary and met with teachers.

He also publicly criticized then-governor Evan Bayh, saying his workforce preparation program was one of many doomed to fail because of funding. Evans noted the 21st Century Scholars program, which was designed to give scholarships to students who meet specific educational requirements. He also touched upon Tech Prep, which required schools to set up programs to help students enter the workforce rather than attending college.

Those programs, he said, were approved but not funded.

In the early 1990s, the state was moving away from ISTEP testing, which Evans said eventually, “what we’re going to end up with is no test at all.”

Evans touched base on a few other educational topics while visiting the area, noting that SAT scores were lower than the national average; the 180-day school year and requirements set forth for making up lost school days has worked; he felt the state was not doing well in measuring the competency of home-schooled students; and he supported the idea of letting parents choose what school their children attend based not on geographical location, but by the programs the school offers.