In three public hearings across the state and in written comments submitted to the Department of Education, Indiana educators spoke loudly and clearly to show displeasure with proposed changes to teacher licensing standards. Was Gov. Mitch Daniels or his hand-picked state Superintendent Tony Bennett listening. Clearly

My colleagues, Kelly Soderlund and Dan Stockman, have a powerful series of stories about Imagine Schools, the educational management organization that operates charter schools across the nation, including two in Fort Wayne and two in Indianapolis. Their three-part series finds an alarming lack of oversight by the local school board.

I just returned from Rochester High School, where the Indiana Department of Education held the first of three public hearings on the proposed teacher licensing changes. I counted about 200 people in attendance -- almost 100 had signed up to speak.

An update on the Friday furloughs that will give Hawaii the shortest school year in the nation: Last week, on the first of the statewide school furlough days, parents protested outside the state Capitol building.

Two new documentaries are available for viewers interested in education. One, The Principal Story, will be shown on Fort Wayne's PBS affiliate at 5 p.m. Sunday. It was broadcast weeks ago on other Indiana affiliates, but was delayed here for a pledge drive broadcast.

I can't think of any place better to enjoy three-day weekends, but the news that Hawaii is cutting its academic school year to 163 days by scheduling furloughs on most Fridays is still terribly disturbing. The new schedule is a result of an agreement with the Hawaii State Teachers Association, in which teachers agreed to a pay reduction of about 8 percent.

Our editorial today is about the review teams sent to five Allen County schools this month by the Indiana Department of Education. The five schools are each in their fourth year of academic probation under Indiana's state accountability law.

Greater Clark County Schools apparently needed first-rate help to take over after its former superintendent, Tony Bennett, was elected Indiana superintendent of public instruction. The school district hired Steven Daeschner, former superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, and found a unique way to bolster his salary, according to this editorial

As the Indiana DOE prepares to lower standards for teacher education, a former Indiana education official is on the stump calling for tougher standards for students.

I have a column coming up on Sunday about a book, Real Education, that Gov. Mitch Daniels shared with members of the Indiana Education Roundtable, noting that it changed the way he thinks about education. I didn't get the opportunity to speak directly with the governor to find out how it changed his views, but the book itself is alarming. If