Indiana Senate Democrats Unveil Education Strategy

The Start Smart initiative includes implementing a four-year phase-in of voluntary full-day kindergarten, establishing a grant program for innovative practices, establishing a public-private partnership to provide free reading books to all children from birth to age five.

Source: Inside INdiana Business

Press Release

INDIANAPOLIS – Calling for the state to renew its commitment to educating children, today Indiana Senate Democrats announced a comprehensive long-term strategy aimed at revolutionizing the state’s education system and ensuring every child’s long-term success.

The Start Smart initiative is designed to close the state’s growing achievement gap by focusing on early childhood development. The plan includes:

Ø Implementing a four-year phase-in of voluntary full-day kindergarten for all schools;
Ø Creating an Early Education Trust Fund to award grants for innovative practices;
Ø Establishing a public-private partnership to provide free reading books to all children from birth to age five;
Ø Conducting a school-by-school study to determine the real cost of educating children; and
Ø Expanding existing legislation to allow school corporations to purchase supplies and services in bulk.

“If Hoosiers want to have a vibrant economy, strong communities and successful citizens, then we need to invest in our kids’ future right now,” said State Senator Connie Sipes (D-New Albany), the Ranking Minority Member on the Senate’s Education & Career Development Committee and a recently retired elementary school principal. “We all know that the sooner kids start the learning process, the more successful they are in the long run – and the Start Smart legislation will enable all our kids – regardless of their race, income or where they live – to have the opportunity to achieve their full potential.”

Full-Day Kindergarten:

With numerous studies confirming that the earlier children start learning, the better they do in later years, Start Smart requires that beginning with the 2007-2008 academic year that all ‘Title One’ schools offer an optional full-day kindergarten program, and all schools offer the option no later than the 2009-2010 school year.

An estimated $80.8 million would be needed to fully fund the program in all of the state’s Title One schools (46,186 students) and $138.9 million would be needed to fund all schools statewide.

“This is an idea for which the time has come,” said Sen. Earline Rogers (D-Gary), a retired school teacher. “We’ve debated this issue for years, and in that time thousands of kids have lost this unique opportunity to get ahead. There is no excuse to wait any longer. Let’s make the commitment today, work with our friends on the other side of the aisle to make FDK a reality for all Hoosier children by 2010.”

Early Education Trust Fund and Innovation Grants

Another component of the bill would establish a trust fund to receive and disburse matching grants for early education programs and initiatives throughout the state. Housed in the Indiana Department of Education, the fund would receive monies appropriated by the General Assembly, federal allocations and private grants and gifts donated to the state for these purposes.

When funds are available, the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) would award matching grants to school corporations that are seeking to provide programs for children from birth through age six. Those programs may include full-day kindergarten, early reading programs, year-round school, expansion of Head Start and other preschool programs, parental education programs and other innovative pilot projects that promote early childhood learning and that can be replicated across the state.

Under the proposal, entities applying for these grants would be required to obtain local matching funds, which could come from private businesses, foundations or a variety of other sources. The State Board of Education would be charged with evaluating applications and awarding grants from the Early Education Trust Fund.

“These grants will allow our schools and teachers the latitude and support necessary to meet the unique needs of the individual students,” said Sen. Tim Skinner (D-Terre Haute), a high school teacher in Vigo County. “Early learning is essential to the future development of our kids, and with this program more and more children will be exposed to those opportunities.”

Early Childhood Reading Program:

Modeled after the state of Tennessee’s partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Senate Democrats propose providing every Hoosier child one free book each month from their date of birth until their fifth birthday.

Under the Start Smart proposal, the state would provide $1.5 million in seed money to the Early Education Trust Fund to launch the statewide effort. The measure requires the IDOE to enter into an agreement with the Imagination Library and work with local schools and communities that would like to set up the program.

“We know this will make a significant difference in the lives of our youngest citizens,” said Sen. Billie Breaux (D-Indianapolis), a retired second grade teacher. “By exposing our children to books and book ownership at an early age, we hope to instill a real love of reading in each of them that will have long term benefits and better prepare them for school. It’s been very successful in Tennessee and in a few Indiana communities. We should try on a statewide level.”

Established in 1996 to serve one county in Tennessee, the Imagination Library has grown to now serve pre-schoolers in 534 communities, in 41 states. Nine of those communities are in Indiana, including communities in Adams, Fayette, Montgomery, Posey, Rush, Vanderburgh, Warrick, Wells and Whitley Counties. The United Way of Central Indiana also has plans to bring the effort to central Indiana, with a formal announcement scheduled for January 20.

“We’ve been working with the Imagination Library in the Connersville community since 1993 and have had some amazing results,” said Karolyn Buckler, Program Coordinator for the Community Education Coalition in Fayette County. “For a few dollars a year, we’ve seen that our children are learning to read more quickly, they are demonstrating a greater familiarity with letters, colors and shapes and they feel a real pride in owning these books. I’m thrilled to see Indiana take this program statewide. It will help so many more children and will be a great investment for the state to make.”

In an effort to more efficiently and equitably distribute the state’s limited education dollars, Senate Democrats are asking for a school-by-school study to determine the real costs of educating children across the state.

Under Start Smart, the IDOE would be required to conduct a study and prepare a report on the amount of money attributable to each factor within the school funding formula’s complexity index (IC 21-3-1.7-6.7) and to develop a fixed cost index for each school corporation in Indiana. Currently there is no formal research to aid legislators in crafting the school funding formula.

“When it comes to educating our kids, best guesses aren’t good enough,” said Sen. Simpson. “If we really want to get serious about improving our schools and student performance, we need an independent study of what it actually takes to make all of our kids successful. The current school formula attempts to recognize the differences between children with a complexity index. But the dollar amounts attached to the at-risk factors in the index are merely a guess.

“We all know that not every child learns at the same pace, or comes to school with the same level of preparation, so there is an obvious achievement gap that needs to be addressed,” added Rogers. We need to admit that we do not have the necessary data to determine the real cost of educating children and this portion of our proposal helps to address that.”

Education ‘Purchasing Pools’

Expanding existing law (PL 1-2005, Section 4), the Start Smart proposal encourages additional areas in which school corporations can work together to buy goods and services in order to save dollars. Utilizing existing educational service centers, Senate Democrats hope to add to the list from which school corporations can collaborate the purchasing of school buses and other vehicles, fuel, energy, food services, facilities maintenance, transportation, textbooks, technology, heath and liability insurance and any other purchases a school corporation may require.

“The Governor recently announced his support of education purchasing pools which are already allowed by statute,” Simpson said. “We hope to encourage further cooperative efforts to save money that could better be used for academic programming.”

The Start Smart initiative is co-authored by Senators Simpson, Sipes, Breaux, Skinner and Rogers. Filed today, the senators hope the legislation will be given a hearing in the Senate’s Education & Career Development committee.

"It is clear that an important part of the state's educational policy should focus on preparing children to come to school ready to learn,” concluded Sipes. “Our state's health and vitality will be measured in terms of just how effective we are in accomplishing this goal. So today is the time we commit to this strategy so every child in Indiana can have an opportunity to succeed in life

For more information Start Smart or other matters before the Indiana State Senate visit www.senatedemocrats.IN.gov or call 1-800-382-9467.

Source: Indiana Senate Democrats