Proponents of Preschool Expansion Prepping for 2017
Five counties were part of the pilot launch that started in January 2015.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowWhen the 2017 session of the Indiana General Assembly gavels in the first week of January, supporters of state-funded preschool will already have months of preparation and research under their belts.
Currently five counties – Allen, Lake, Marion, Jackson and Vanderburgh – are in the second year of the state’s On My Way Pre-K pilot program, but demand is enormous. United Way of Central Indiana reports that 3,500 low income applicants had to be turned away in Marion County/Indianapolis alone.
“There are about 85,000 4-year-olds in Indiana and only about 2200 of them have access to publicly supported Pre-K, so a lot more children out there need and deserve this benefit,” says Dr. Ted Maple, president and CEO of Early Learning Indiana. ELI operates Day Early Learning (formerly Day Nursery) and Child Care Answers, as well as advocating for high quality early-learning education statewide.
Maple points out that 41 other states already have publicly-funded preschool programs in operation with a jump-start on Indiana. He says the state needs to start moving more children into quality early learning programs in order to stay competitive.
“We know that high quality programs have been shown to have a great economic benefit down the road in what we see as more successful adults and a more prepared workforce. So I think that the more we as a state and a community continue to demand that all children have this well-deserved early education the more- and sooner – we’ll see support for it from our leadership at the Statehouse.”
Early childhood education advocates are prepared to hit the subject powerfully during the 2017 budget session with even more partners behind them. One way they’re collecting supporters is through an upcoming summit for stakeholders.
The 2016 Indiana Summit for Economic Development via Early Learning Coalitions will be held at the Horizon Convention Center in Muncie on Tuesday June 7. The Indiana Early Learning Advisory Committee (ELAC) is hosting the free day-long event, emceed by Inside INdiana Business’s Gerry Dick.
One of the speakers at the event will be Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma, who co-authored House Enrolled Act 1004 establishing the preschool pilot program in 2014. This summer a legislative committee will continue to study the potential expansion of the program.
Maple says more research and more opportunities will be presented by early learning proponents over the summer, strengthening the case for additional funding for low income families with preschool age children.
“It’s time to do this. Indiana is a great state, a great place to live, and every parent, every family, every community wants their children to have the best start possible and this really is a necessity in order to do that.”
Dr. Ted Maple, President/CEO of Early Learning Indiana, explains why it’s not enough to simply provide preschool.