Stan Jones, former Indiana lawmaker and education leader, died
02/08/2017
Longtime Indiana public and higher education advocate died. Stan Jones spent much of his professional life working on education policy and college completion.
Jones was elected to the Indiana General Assembly in 1974 at the age of 24, where he served for 16 years in the House of Representatives. During his tenure, he served on the House education and budget committees where he was a consistent and strong supporter of Indiana public schools.
He became a key architect on what was likely Indiana’s first modern day omnibus education reform package enacted in 1987 — Indiana’s A+ Program for Education Excellence. The bill was introduced under Republican Gov. Robert Orr’s tenure. Jones, even as a member of the minority, secured a lead role in shaping this initiative into something that could appeal to all constituencies — instituting the original ISTEP test, which then was designed to diagnose student academic needs. Components of the bill provided summer remediation support, developed state academic standards and proficiencies, implemented a teacher evaluation program designed to improve teaching practices, prohibited the use of student test scores in the evaluation and added five days to the school year.
Gov. Evan Bayh would ask Jones to serve as commissioner for higher education, and he went on to serve in that role under Indiana’s next four governors. He is credited for advancing Indiana’s 21st Century Scholars program, making it possible for thousands of students in financial need to realize their dreams of going to college.
In 2009, Jones left state government to create the nonprofit organization, Complete College America, dedicated to increasing the number of Americans with quality career certificates or college degrees and closing attainment gaps for traditionally underrepresented populations.
Most of all, to our members, Stan Jones will be remembered as a friend.
Jones’ family suggests contributions to Complete College America for the Stan Jones Memorial Scholarship supporting 21st Century Scholars.