A look at news and events in the Daniels Administration

October 31, 2009- Governor Mitch Daniels and First Lady Cheri Daniels welcomed trick-or-treaters to the Governor’s Residence on Halloween night.  The governor and first lady dressed as characters from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland in costumes provided by Landes Costumes by Rachel of Indianapolis.

The governor and first lady handed out assorted candy provided by five Indiana companies: caramels from Abbott’s Candy Shop of Hagerstown, chocolates from DeBrand Fine Chocolates of Fort Wayne, gummy candies and chocolate rocks from Mundt’s Candies of Madison, chocolate-dipped pretzel rods from Schimpff’s Confectionery of Jeffersonville, and candy corn from Zachary Confections of Frankfort.  Trick-or-treaters also received jump ropes from the Jump Kids Jump Movement® and Clarian Health.

Check out a gallery of photos at this link: http://www.in.gov/gov/3335.htm

October 29, 2009- Governor Mitch Daniels today joined Ohio Governor Ted Strickland at the Indiana-Ohio state line to open new sections of the U.S. 24 Fort to Port highway, fulfilling a commitment by both states to “meet at the line in 2009” and marking another step toward connecting Fort Wayne with the Port of Toledo.

The Fort to Port project is part of Governor Daniels’ Major Moves jobs and transportation program and will eventually connect with the Hoosier Heartland Corridor to provide access to cities and towns across north central Indiana to major highways and transportation outlets.

“The waiting is over. Thanks to our Major Moves transaction, a safer road and countless new jobs are finally on their way, without a dollar of new taxes or new borrowing. Hoosiers are showing America how to solve big problems and protect taxpayers at the same time,” said Daniels.

The 2.9-mile section of new highway and new interchange is the first section to be open to traffic in Indiana. The new section will immediately connect at the state line to a 45-mile section extending to the east side of Napoleon, Ohio. In all, 11.5 miles of divided, limited-access highway, including three new interchanges, east of I-469 to the Ohio state line will be built. 

The second section of the Indiana project is currently under construction and the final two sections will be placed for contract bid in 2010 and completed in 2012. The total estimated cost for the project is $170 million.

The Ohio corridor is a total of 58.5 miles and is being constructed in eight phases extending east from the state line to Toledo, Ohio.  Five phases are complete with the remaining three phases scheduled to be completed in 2012.  The total estimated cost of the project is $402 million.

“We are modernizing this highway not only to create a safer route of travel between these two cities, but also to establish a multi-modal corridor where goods can move efficiently,” said Governor Strickland. “The need for Ohio and Indiana to be strong partners in transportation has never been greater. These projects are key pieces in linking and strengthening the economies of both states.”

In October 2008, Daniels broke ground on construction of the Hoosier Heartland Corridor, a 31-mile, four-lane, limited-access divided highway between Lafayette and Logansport.  The project is scheduled to be completed three years ahead of schedule in 2013.  The highway will provide greater and safer access from Lafayette to Fort Wayne, where it will link with the Fort to Port corridor, allowing direct access from central Indiana to the deep water ports in Toledo.  It will also connect I-65 in Lafayette to I-69 in Fort Wayne via a multi-lane highway.

More information about the Fort to Port corridor project can be found at the link: http://www.in.gov/indot/div/projects/us24/index.html

Mitch’s Kids participants improve math, reading skills

October 28, 2009- As Mitch’s Kids – Governor Mitch Daniels’ statewide initiative to reduce the achievement gap – enters its fifth year, reading and math skills of participating children continue to show drastic improvement.

Seventy-one Boys & Girls Clubs will participate in the after-school tutoring program this year, more than any previous year since Daniels initiated the program during the 2005-06 school year.

“The enormous progress these kids are making in reading and math largely has gone unnoticed but I couldn’t be more proud. The concrete results being measured in these clubs prove that our low-income kids are fully capable of academic success,” said Daniels, who visited the Boys & Girls Club of Ft. Wayne today. 

The goal of the program is to increase reading and math skills of the participants, who are in grades 1 through 8. To obtain a baseline measure, the Indiana Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs completes pre- and post-testing of many of the participants. Nearly 12,000 children who have enrolled in the program since January 2006 have completed pre-tests to assess their reading and math skills, and 5,000 children have taken tests following the Mitch’s Kids reading and math homework sessions to determine progress.

Through August, reading fluency scores for those tested have increased an average of 65 percent and math fluency scores have increased by 64.5 percent (the test administered is the Woodcock-Johnston Tests of Achievement).

Before participating in the program, 33 percent of tested participants were reading above grade level and 31 percent were above grade level in math fluency. After the program, 62 percent were reading at above grade level and 63 percent were above grade level in math fluency.

The governor has committed $1 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds each year since the start of the program. Mitch’s Kids works in conjunction with the Boys & Girls Club after-school POWER Hour program at 71 clubs throughout the state. Participants receive homework and tutoring sessions for a specified number of weeks and are tested to determine reading and math progress.

The governor established Mitch’s Kids to help close the achievement gap. Ninety-three percent of participants receive free or reduced price lunch. The Family and Social Services Administration works with Boys & Girls Clubs to identify and enroll children from low-income households.

Overall goals are to help children increase the quality and quantity of homework they complete and help improve student behavior and attitudes about school and learning. The program’s goal for reading and math tests is to increase scores by at least 10 percent for first and second graders and by at least 15 percent for third through eighth graders.

In addition to children enrolled in Mitch’s Kids, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America POWER Hour program has served an additional 35,622 children across Indiana. The POWER Hour focuses on building skills to be successful in school, such as completing homework, and preparing for class with staff and volunteer encouragement and assistance.