Dear Senators Raatz and Rogers and Representatives Behning, King, and Teshka:
My name is Jenna A. Robinson, and I serve as president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy organization dedicated to excellence and accountability in higher education.
I am writing to express my appreciation for your leadership in sponsoring Senate Bill 199 during the 2026 legislative session. Your effort to incorporate the federal earnings test into Indiana’s higher-education accountability framework reflects a strong commitment to ensuring that postsecondary education delivers meaningful value for students and responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources.
By aligning state policy with measurable labor-market outcomes, you are advancing an approach that prioritizes student opportunity, informed decision-making, and long-term economic mobility. Policies that connect academic offerings to real-world results help strengthen public confidence in higher education and reinforce its essential public mission.
In January, the Martin Center released Blueprint for Reform: Indiana, a report outlining practical policy solutions to improve quality, affordability, and return on investment across the state’s higher-education system. Your work on this legislation directly advances many of the accountability principles we highlighted in that report.
Balancing institutional autonomy with outcome-based oversight is not simple, and I commend your willingness to engage thoughtfully with this complex issue. Leadership of this kind is essential to ensuring that higher education remains both academically strong and economically relevant.
Thank you for your service to the people of Indiana and for your continued efforts to strengthen the state’s colleges and universities. Please do not hesitate to reach out if our research or analysis would be helpful as this legislation moves forward.
Sincerely,
Jenna A. Robinson