[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 20 (Monday, February 6, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E144]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING STAN JONES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. LUKE MESSER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 6, 2017

  Mr. MESSER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a dear friend of 
mine--a policy leader who dedicated his life to providing better 
educational opportunities for Hoosier kids. His work spanned decades. I 
am speaking of Indiana's own, Stan Jones.
   Most recently, Stan founded Complete College America in order to 
build a network of states committed to substantially increasing the 
number of Americans with a postsecondary credential.
   Earlier in his career, Stan was elected to the Indiana House of 
Representatives at age 24. As a member of both the House Education and 
State Budget committees, he developed expertise in higher education and 
higher-education finance. All told, Stan served 16 years in the Indiana 
state legislature and more than five years as a senior advisor to 
Governor Evan Bayh.
   His service as Indiana commissioner for higher education spanned 12 
years and the tenure of four different governors from both political 
parties. As commissioner, he was credited as a primary architect of 
several landmark education policy initiatives in Indiana. These 
initiatives included the 21st Century Scholars program, an early 
promise scholarship program aimed at increasing the number of low-
income students attending and completing a postsecondary education; the 
development of Indiana's new community college system; the creation of 
Indiana's Education Roundtable; and the implementation of Core 40, a 
college prep curriculum that has contributed to a significant increase 
in high school seniors going to college.
   Stan was also instrumental in the high school drop-out reform 
legislation that I authored as a state legislator a decade ago. Those 
reforms helped drive Indiana's extraordinary progress with its 
statewide graduation rate improving to nearly 90 percent--an almost 20 
percent increase from a decade before.
   It is no exaggeration to say those reform ideas were hatched over 
cheeseburgers and fries at Loughmiller's Pub & Eatery right across from 
the Indiana State Capitol. Truth be told, Stan had the ideas, and I 
simply worked to implement them.
   Another great Hoosier, former champion UCLA basketball head coach 
John Wooden once said, ``it's amazing how much can be accomplished if 
no one cares who gets credit.'' At his very core, Stan Jones 
exemplified that ideal.
   You will be missed, my friend.

                          ____________________