Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is out of excuses. Often discussed as a leading candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, Daniels has withheld making a decision about whether to run, saying he wanted to wait until the Indiana legislature adjourned for the year and the state’s business was settled. 

At one level, it’s understandable he wanted to wait. Daniels had much he hoped to accomplish, included a substantial and controversial education overhaul—featuring extensive use of vouchers, merit pay for teachers, restructuring the teacher credentialing system, and more. Daniels has made the Hoosier state the nation’s leading laboratory of education experimentation and reform. He visited AEI to discuss his state’s ambitious school restructuring and later sat down for an in-depth interview.

Nick Schulz is the editor of THE AMERICAN.

FURTHER READING: Schulz and Bryan Caplan say “It’s Mother’s Day; Be Selfish,” Schulz and John Miller remember “How the Progressives Almost Killed Football,” and Schulz and Steven Hayward detail “‘Reagan’s Final Triumph Over His Enemies.’” Watch Governor Daniels’s entire speech at AEI, “Creating First-Rate Education in Indiana.” Rick Hess and Olivia Meeks write “The Case for Being Bold,” while Hess describes “A Policy Debate, Not an Attack.”

Image by Darren Wamboldt/Bergman Group.