Catholic Conference Lauds State's New Preschool Program

Indianapolis—After months of debate and a persuasive push by Gov. Mike Pence, the Indiana General Assembly has passed a preschool pilot program to provide low-income families school choice for their preschool-age children. It’s the first state-funded preschool program in state history.

House Bill 1004, authored by Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, passed the House 92-8; and it passed the Senate 40-8.

“Developing an ongoing statewide program to boost early childhood education, particularly for children of poverty, has been a priority of the Indiana Catholic Conference for years,” said, Glenn Tebbe, ICC executive director.  “The bipartisan effort by lawmakers and the priority placed on early childhood education opportunities by Governor Mike Pence this year helped get a meaningful program passed.”

Behning called the plan a “good first step that will provide high-quality preschool for four-year olds who need it.” Behning estimates the program could assist anywhere from 2,000 to 4,500 low-income children.

The bill authorizes the Family and Social Services Administration to create a pilot program to deliver quality preschool to children in five selected counties. Parents qualify whose income is less than 127 percent of the federal poverty level, which translates to an annual income of about $30,000 for a family of four. Qualifying families may use the funding at qualified preschools, including private preschools, non-public schools or public schools. The bill creates a commission to study the benefits of preschool and analyze the effects of the program.

“While the pilot focuses on those families with need and provides parents with options in preschool programs, which is a good thing,” Tebbe said, “the automatic access to qualify for the K-12 choice scholarships program was deleted from the final bill in conference committee. This potentially could force a child to go to a public school for kindergarten and then return to the non-public school with a voucher. It would be better for the child to stay in the setting and not disrupt the curricular development. But some leaders in the Senate were adamant that the voucher link be removed.”

The program will be funded by reversions from FSSA funds allocated for this year of up to $10 million. However, the state has to raise up to $5 million from private sources because at least 10 percent of support for each child must be paid for with private sources.

Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said, “The Headstart Program is a proclaimed failure by the federal government itself, and so I think this is a big opportunity for Indiana to push on them to say give us a chance to do this and direct it correctly,” said Kenley. “I hope we will make every effort to, particularly with the Head Start dollars, to try to develop a program that will really be beneficial to those children.” 

Rep. Behning said he appreciated Sen. Kenley’s comments and added, “I do believe the state will save money as we meet the needs of these children up front as opposed to having to do remediation and spend money later.”

Sen. Earline Rodgers, D-Gary, said, “My background is in early childhood education. When I was a first-grade teacher, I could always tell which kids went to kindergarten because they came ready to school.” Rodgers said the program would “level the playing field” for children who come from poverty backgrounds.

“Today is a happy, happy day for me,” said Rep. Shelli Vandenburgh, D-Crown Point. “I can definitely say this has been a bipartisan effort. We have a governor that really cares about kids. I appreciate the parental involvement and the attendance factor.” She added that the program also opens-up different avenues for funding and “much-needed federal funding.”

The Indiana General Assembly adjourned March 14. During the interim, the Legislative Council serves as the governing body for lawmakers and directs interim study panels made up of lawmakers who conduct in-depth research on legislative issues in preparation for the next session of the Indiana General Assembly. Aside from Organization Day, which will occur in Nov. 2014, the General Assembly will convene its next official lawmaking session in Jan. 2015.

Tebbe said, “The Indiana Catholic Conference will continue to represent the Church in the public square during the state’s legislative interim and assist the Church in informing the Catholic community on both state and federal public policy matters of importance.”

The Indiana Catholic Conference, the official public policy representative for the Catholic Church in Indiana, offers resources on their Web page for Catholics interested in staying engaged in the Church’s public policy efforts locally and links Catholics to the Church’s federal public policy efforts of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB.)  To stay connected to the Indiana Catholic Conference, go to their Web page at www.indianacc.org and sign-up to receive electronic newsletter updates or join the Indiana Catholic Action Network.