Teachers' unions, business groups finally appear to agree on preschool funding

Though the scope of what's possible during the Indiana General Assembly's four-month 2013 legislative session is not clear, lawmakers and advocacy groups say it should be part of the state's next efforts to improve schools.

During a speech last week, Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, referred to "the early childhood learning opportunities that we all believe are so important for the future" as something Indiana should pursue.

Afterward, Rep. Kreg Battles, D-Vincennes, said he hopes lawmakers can grab some "low-hanging fruit" such as offering state-funded early childhood education and vocational and technical education.

And the Indiana Chamber of Commerce — the business lobbying group that championed the state's 2011 laws, including a private school voucher program, expanded charter schools, tighter collective bargaining controls and more — is on board with the push.

"We've really accomplished a lot of the other things we wanted to get done," said Derek Redelman, the Chamber's vice president for education and workforce development policy.

"We wanted to make sure we're working on the whole spectrum of issues. This is a critically important one that we just haven't been all that engaged in, and this year we're going to change that."

One condition Bosma mentioned: He wants an early-childhood education program to look like the state's voucher law, which allows tax dollars to pay for students from low-income families to attend private schools.

Such a setup could be necessary. While public preschool programs exist to some degree in cities including Evansville, Indianapolis and Columbus, such programs are not legally required and are not offered presently at most public schools.

The debate will take place within the context of lawmakers efforts to write a new two-year budget worth between $28 billion and $29 billion for the state.

While the state is on track to close the fiscal year with a surplus that tops $500 million, the question is how that money will be spent — and there are a number of potential priorities that are competing to get their share of it.

Republican Gov.-elect Mike Pence has proposed lowering the state's individual income tax rate from 3.4 percent to 3.06 percent. Already, meanwhile, the inheritance tax is being phased out, and the corporate income tax rate is being stepped down from 8.5 percent to 6.5 percent.

And education — that is, both K-12 education and higher education, two areas that saw their budgets cut as Indiana weathered the economic downturn, especially in 2009 and 2010 — is a place where current spending levels could be increased even without a preschool program.

Two moments will be key in determining whether a preschool program is possible: a committee's December update of Indiana's tax revenue forecast, and then an April update that comes just before lawmakers complete work on a new budget.

"It's really going to depend on how all the budget conversations go. This is one of those things where we're looking at new dollars here, and we think the state is in a financial situation to at least give this a look," Redelman said.

He said the Chamber would push for preschool programs receiving state tax dollars to be monitored to make sure they are teaching children basic skills such as their colors, how to spell their name and their addresses.

"These are the kinds of things you can monitor and objectively assess without doing a pencil-and-paper test," he said.

Several Southwestern Indiana business officials are working with the Chamber to push for publicly-funded preschool, Redelman said, and the area's state lawmakers have indicated they are interested in pursuing legislation on the topic, as well.

Lawmakers will soon begin filing bills ahead of the four-month legislative session's early-2013 start, which will offer a glimpse at the potential starting points on an issue that could evolve over the course of the session.

The General Assembly's 2013 session starts Jan. 7, and must end by April 29 — with a new two-year budget completed by then.