Automotive production in the United States is moving south. Yes, Indiana has been successful recently in attracting Honda and incorporating a Toyota expansion into the existing Subaru facility in Lafayette, but those have been exceptions rather than the rule.

Since Nissan chose Smyrna, Tennessee for a plant location in 1983, the Volunteer state and neighbors in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina have become attractive locations for BMW, Kia, Honda and others. Good transportation and a strong workforce are two of the reasons. The biggest, according to some, is that these are right-to-work (RTW) states that allow the automakers (and other major employers) to avoid union concerns.

The 22 states with RTW laws have seen dramatic increases in economic development and personal incomes compared to those lacking the RTW measures. It’s not the lone reason, of course, but one that deserves full consideration.

One of the keys to progress for any state is standing out from the others. RTW would do that for Indiana in the Midwest and on a national level.

This week’s Letter to Our Leaders has the details.

From the "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" File:

An Ohio task force has recommended that the state provide universal health insurance. The group, which doesn’t say how to pay for the proposal, wants mandates on all residents to buy insurance and insurers to accept all who apply. Employers, naturally, would also face certain requirements.

Perhaps our eastern neighbor is hoping to mimic the resounding success of San Francisco, Massachusetts and Canada.

After 16 years, Suellen Reed’s reign as superintendent of public instruction is nearing the end. Voters will choose this November between a new Republican nominee, Dr. Tony Bennett, who is currently the superintendent of the Greater Clark County Schools, and the Democrat nominee, Dr. Dick Wood, who just retired as superintendent of Tippecanoe School Corporation.

Over the next several months, we can expect to hear at least some debate on which of these gentlemen will best carry on the 16-year legacy of Reed. School leaders, who are largely happy with Reed, will be looking for someone who can continue on her role as chief defender of all that is good in public schools. Meanwhile, those of us interested in reform will be looking for a candidate who can return leadership and new ideas to the office. 

It is difficult to say what Reed and her supporters will tout as her accomplishments. She opposed most of the leading reforms that occurred during her tenure, including: revision of our state standards, reform of the ISTEP test and establishment of Core 40 as a graduation requirement. She was also largely silent during consideration of charter school legislation and then nearly killed the movement in its infancy with her administration of charter school funding. 

In the absence of other leadership, Gov. Daniels has tried desperately during his first term to provide substantial deregulation for our schools, to force greater financial efficiencies and to raise the dialogue on teacher quality. As Reed has been painfully silent on these issues, many of us are hoping that a new superintendent will help lead on these and other issues that are critical to the future of our schools. 

Perhaps most importantly, many — both in education and outside — are looking forward to a much improved Department of Education. Multiple stories by the Indianapolis Star and others have highlighted the dismal job the department has done on managing critical data such as high school graduation rates. But as highlighted by outside reviews by independent groups like Crowe Chizek, the problems with data are just the beginning of a management overhaul that is long overdue. 

The Indiana Chamber does not endorse candidates in the state superintendent race, but we will be watching carefully what each of these candidates has to say. Nobody can question the passion with which Reed has performed her job for the last four terms, but for the sake of our state, the next superintendent needs to transform that passion to ideas and leadership. 

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.

Let’s get right to it:

• After years of working toward an accurate graduation rate (legislation resulted, in part, from this 2006 report), nearly all will agree that more than a quarter of Indiana’s students are leaving high school without a diploma. It’s not our state’s problem alone, but hopefully most will concede that these young people and our state suffer the long-term consequences of this fact
• Approximately a million working Hoosiers lack the skills needed to compete in today’s economy. That’s part of the focus of an upcoming Letters to Our Leaders’ missive on the workforce, but it also belongs in this discussion
• No public college or university in the state graduates as many as half its students within four years — and the statistics don’t improve dramatically for some given a six-year period. We’ve got to do better

A more coordinated K-12, higher education and workforce development system is called for in the Chamber’s latest letter to the general public and the candidates for governor. Greater administrative efficiency, adjustments in teacher compensation and qualifications, and more are included. Read the letter; view the one-minute video commentary below; share your thoughts in this space.

I spent a most interesting 25 minutes on the telephone this morning with Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House who will be keynoting the Chamber’s 19th Annual Awards Dinner on November 6 — two days after this fall’s general election.

After giving a thoughtful and comprehensive response about what he expects to happen on November 4, Gingrich did add that he originally picked Hillary Rodham Clinton to win the Democratic nomination and he thought John McCain was "dead last August." While he downplays his own prognostications, Gingrich offered a number of compelling insights on political and business topics.

The full story from our interview will be in the upcoming BizVoice magazine (available in late August online and in print). But look for a few more excerpts between now and then, both from our discussion and also from hearing Gingrich speak earlier this year to the Council of State Governments in Lexington, Kentucky.

Bottom line: he’s incredibly intelligent, strongly opinionated and you’re not going to want to miss what he has to say in November.

While Marion County and a few others across the state are still dealing with 2007 property tax bills, work is progressing (behind the normal May-November payment due schedule) on 2008 versions. It’s still way too early to tell the impacts of most property tax reform measures. The immediate "relief" to homeowners (a total of $870 million in state-provided credits) will be seen.

Although there is no official report, Indiana Chamber calculations indicate:

• Twelve have mailed the first 2008 bills, with Vanderburgh, Hamilton and Howard among the largest counties
• The initial Allen County installment is expected to hit next week. Vigo and Monroe should go out before the end of July
• Further delays are expected in northern Indiana with more work to do in Lake, LaPorte, Porter and St. Joseph counties
• A total of 52 counties have received budget orders from the Department of Local Government Finance. The result could be many more bills on the way in the coming weeks

So, homeowners are getting their relief – that was the mission. The question is what will the 2008 commercial and industrial property taxes look like.

Two excerpts of Wednesday stories that taken together simply leave your head shaking.

First, from an Indiana Chamber release the day after its Letters to Our Leaders project debuted with an initial focus on local government efficiency:

Last winter, the first responders on the scene of a van in a Hamilton County retention pond weren’t a critically needed dive team. Instead, it reportedly took three 911 calls for that emergency crew to arrive. Tragically, four people lost their lives when public safety improvements might have made all the difference.

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette was one of many media outlets covering the campaign to place a focus on important public policy issues. A separate story in the same newspaper about opposition to a plan to merge city, county and the nearby New Haven emergency call centers included the following:

The issue of merged 911 centers has been an ongoing discussion for years between Fort Wayne and Allen County, as the two call centers are housed in the same room of the City-County Building basement separated by a glass wall. Councilman Tim Pape, D-5th, said the issue has been the most frustrating topic for him. … He said even if there were no cost savings, having a unified dispatch center makes sense because it improves safety.

The Chamber’s local government efficiency letter and below is the video; the story from Fort Wayne.