School systems are unable to draw down funding, jeopardizing summer programs, hiring and early-year planning for the 2025–26 school year. Indiana stands to lose out on about $100 million.
Read More
At least seven public school districts in the Indianapolis area are raising the cost of preschool for the coming year, as the state makes cuts to its state preschool voucher program, On My Way Pre-K.
Read More
The bill would allow single-owner child care companies or nonprofits, like YMCAs, to open multiple locations under one license.
The program provides free, high quality, age-appropriate books to children from birth to age five on a monthly basis, regardless of family income.
Indiana and 23 other states filed the suit to stop rules that require students as young as 2 years old to wear masks if they attend a preschool program funded by Head Start.
President Joe Biden proposed a massive package of policies Wednesday designed to reduce child poverty rates and make preschool and higher education more accessible.
Funding the initiative would be a tax increase on the rich, most notably a near doubling of the capital gains tax rate on incomes above $1 million, to 39.6%.
Organizers hope to address the barriers that discourage men of color from working as preschool teachers, including a lack of representation in preschool classrooms and the misconception that teaching preschool is like a babysitting job.
An annual national report on preschool dumped Indiana from this year’s rankings, excluding the state’s fledging On My Way Pre-K program because of a controversial requirement that bars some families in need from signing up.
We tell our customers that the choices they make right now matter tomorrow. But these words would ring hollow if we didn’t live by them ourselves. I urge you to join us and advocate for those who do not have the opportunity or means to speak for themselves.
Indiana expects to leave state funding for pre-kindergarten untouched this year due to a slower-than-hoped expansion, according to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.
Gov. Eric Holcomb said there would be “no more stove-pipe approach,” referring to criticisms by some legislative leaders that the workforce development system is convoluted and divided into isolated silos.
The preschool program for children from low-income families previously was offered in just five counties, but lawmakers recently expanded it.
Spots for children of low-income families are available in Allen, Jackson, Lake, Marion and Vanderburgh counties for the On My Way Pre-K program.
Participating local providers in those counties will be expected to enroll children for the 2018-19 school year, with the possibility of a limited program beginning next January.
The preschool pilot will expand from five counties to up to 20 under the bill.
Holcomb says the bill provides access to high-quality early education for “thousands” of poor families.
Fifty-one percent of respondents in an early state evaluation of the pre-K program said their families had been able to increase their work or school hours while their children participated in the program.
A House bill that would increase state funding to send low-income children to preschool was gutted in an Indiana Senate committee, setting up a potential clash between the two chambers.
Tying an expansion of Indiana’s pre-school program to its more politically touchy voucher system has drawn criticism from House Democrats, pre-K advocates and even some Republicans.
Supporters of expanding state-funded preschool said they are frustrated the bill includes what they view as an expansion of the private school voucher program.
The voucher language has injected some controversy into a bill that has received bipartisan support.
