the Wisconsin Republicans, he said that in Indiana "we're not in quite the same position or advocating quite the same things they are up in Madison." Education Following the legislative walkouts, the assembly began passing most of the agenda and Daniels signed the bills into law. Written in collaboration with Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, a series of education reform laws made a variety of major changes to statewide public schools. A statewide school voucher program was enacted. Children in homes with an income under $41,000 could receive vouchers equal to 90% of the cost of their public school tuition and use that money to attend a private school. It provides lesser benefits to households with income over $41,000. The program was gradually phased in over a three-year period and became available to all state residents by 2014. Other funds were redirected to creating and expanding charter schools and expanding college scholarship programs. The law also created a merit pay system to give better performing teachers higher wages, gave broader authority to school superintendents to terminate the employment of teachers, and restricted the collective bargaining rights of teachers. WGU Indiana was established through an executive order on June 14, 2010, by Daniels, as a partnership between the state and Western Governors University in an effort to expand access to higher education for Indiana residents and increase the percentage of the state's adult population with education beyond high school. Attempt to ban the teaching of Howard Zinn In July 2013, the Associated Press obtained emails under Indiana open record laws in which Daniels asked for assurances that a textbook, The People's History of the United States, written by historian Howard Zinn "is not in use anywhere in Indiana". Daniels wrote in 2010, "This crap should not be accepted for any credit by the state." Daniels's e-mails were addressed to Scott Jenkins, his education adviser, and David Shane, a top fundraiser and state school board member. Daniels and his aides came to agreement and the governor wrote to them, "Go for it. Disqualify propaganda . ... " Part of Shane's input was that a statewide review "would force to daylight a lot of excrement". Though Teresa Lubbers, the state commissioner of higher education, was mentioned in the e-mails regarding the statewide review of courses, she later said that she "was never asked to conduct the survey of courses described in