Any time editorial pages start preaching the same sermon, it's right to be skeptical. But I think the Marion Chronicle-Tribune, the Evansville Courier & Press and the South Bend Tribune all raise the right question. If it is important, as the state constitution guarantees, to provide a "free and equal" public education for Hoosier students, what moral or philosophical principle supports charging parents for textbooks? This seems especially pertinent now that everybody from the governor on down seems committed to a very expensive full-day kindergarten program. Before we do anything new, shouldn't we at least start paying for what we've already promised to provide?
