Jay Geshay, senior vice president at United Way of Central Indiana, speaks Wednesday at the Statehouse about a business colation plan to expand state-funded prekindergarten for low-income children. He was joined by Connie Bond Stuart, PNC Bank regional president and United Way board chairman. Staff photo by Dan Carden
INDIANAPOLIS — Supporters of expanding state-funded prekindergarten for low-income children, beyond Lake and four other pilot counties, face an uphill battle to convince lawmakers to spend more than the current appropriation of $10 million a year.
A business coalition promoting an unspecified, limited funding increase for high-quality prekindergarten programs ran into a buzzsaw of skepticism on Wednesday from key legislators about the need for greater preschool access and whether limited state funds might be better spent elsewhere.
State Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, chairman of the budget-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said he appreciated the "effort, intensity and passion" of pre-K expansion supporters, led by the United Way of Central Indiana.
But he's not convinced state pre-K funding is sustainable and suggested Indiana could get a bigger bang for its bucks, in the two-year, $30 billion state budget set to be crafted starting in January, by focusing on improving the high school graduation rate of at-risk teenagers.
State Sen. Doug Eckerty, R-Yorktown, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he's seen no evidence that the two-year-old On My Way Pre-K pilot is making a difference.
He said Indiana should probably wait until those children are tested in third grade and compared with their non-preschool peers before sinking more money into expanded pre-K availability.
Members of the business coalition pointed out that numerous studies show pre-K leads to better educational and life outcomes, polls show Hoosiers overwhelmingly support expanded pre-K for low-income children and Indiana is one of just eight states without statewide pre-K.
"These are children who deserve an opportunity at success in life and the only way they're going to get that leg up so that they're ready is if we give them a helping hand," said Connie Bond Stuart, PNC Bank regional president and United Way board chairwoman.
Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb, the Republican nominee for governor, has endorsed limited pre-K expansion, but is relying on the Legislature to figure out how to pay for it.
The Democratic gubernatorial nominee, John Gregg, believes Indiana needs statewide pre-K options for all children, regardless of income, and has identified unspent money at the Department of Education to fund it.
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